


The Avenger

by UncommonVillian



Series: The Avenger [1]
Category: Ed Edd n Eddy, Naruto, Overwatch (Video Game), Star Wars - All Media Types, Team Fortress 2, Team Fortress Classic
Genre: Dark Jedi - Freeform, Deathwatch Team Fortress Classic, Grey Jedi, Jedi, Mandalorian, Sith, Sith TF, Smuggler Eds, Talon - Freeform, Update crossovers and tags as I go along
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2018-12-21 05:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11937729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UncommonVillian/pseuds/UncommonVillian
Summary: The Chosen One has been reborn and the galaxy is destined for a battle unlike it's ever seen before.





	1. A Whole New Light

**Author's Note:**

> So for a while now, I've been trying to come up with ideas on how to work out how to put past works together with new ideas. I think I finally got it but I'll leave all my old stuff up for those who want to check them out. You can find my work under the same name on FF.net and DeviantArt. Hope I finally figured out the formula and will make it better. Hope y'all enjoy it. Peace.

    It has been five hundred thousand years since the first Sith academy was built on Korriban. Throughout the ages, it has fallen in and out of their hands and for ten thousand years, the Jedi had reacquired control over the planet. The Sith, at this point, were a distant memory and believed to had finally been destroyed once and for all. With Darth Krayt destroyed all Sith artifacts and left his own holocron as the only Sith object, the Jedi has seized it and left it in one of their vaults and threw away the key so no one could every learn from it. But there was still two other holocrons that even the Dark Lord wasn’t aware of and they have been hidden by a small family that have learned from it through the millennia. Finally, the sole survivor of the family began to gather anyone who he deemed worthy. He took eight others with him and had formed The Dark Brotherhood of Nine. The leader, the vicious and unbearable Darth Tirashias, had finally revealed himself and his brothers to the galaxy when they invaded Coresant and stormed the Jedi Temple.

    However instead of killing them outright, Tirashias offered the Jedi to join them to recreate the Sith Empire. Though many saw through the lies of the Sith, there were still many others that defected from the Jedi to join the Sith. Many Jedi took up arms only to fall to crimson blades. After the onslaught and breaking into the safe to steal Krayt’s holocron, the Brotherhood left, taking the Jedi that turned with them. They made it to Korriban, slaughtering all the forces that guarded the planet and reestablished the academy. They then reached out for neighboring systems, convincing some to join their cause. Amongst them were many mercenaries that were turned into foot soldiers and droid builders that built them an army. The Republic tried to invade Korriban, but the Dark Brotherhood harvested a power beyond that of any Jedi and the Republic was forced to retreat.

    From here, they retook control and rebuilt the ancient capital of the Sith Empire, Dromund Kaas. After being laid to ruins, the city was quickly rebuilt and was now the new stronghold for the Empire. While trainers and acolytes trained on Korriban, only the elite and the strong were welcome to Dromund Kaas. The only difference from the Sith of old was that the Brotherhood did away with alien prejudice that their forefathers held. Tirashias agreed that there were many species across the galaxy that would make even their ancestors proud. It was no surprise that many of the brothers took on wives of various alien species, such as Twi'Liks and Torgutas. With their stronghold and academy planet back in their grip, and with many supporters at their helm, the Sith Empire made a successful and devastating return to the galaxy.

    It has been two years and the Sith have been spending their time building their forces. In the meantime, the Republic had been trying to put together anything that could fight the Sith. They had been gathering their best soldiers and mercenaries to form their own army to face them. One system that refused was Mandalore. After reforming their warrior path, the Mandalorians had now become the most recognized race of warriors in the entire galaxy. However when the Chancellor came to the system and spoke with the Mand’alor, she turned them down. Mandalore had a history with the Republic and chose to stay out of the conflict unless the Sith came to attack them.

    In the midst of all this, Mandalore had cumulated a thousand year reformation. With the capital planet of Mandalore keeping some of the diplomatic tendencies that they acquired during the Clone Wars, but they were also training their armies to become more powerful than any warrior creed in the galaxy. A thousand years ago, descendants of the Death Watch and Night Owl splinter groups returned to Mandalore and began to reform their history. On the moon of Concordia, there were more primitive warriors being trained in new ways that were taught to them by different cultures across the galaxy.

    Along with this reformation, there were two Force sensitives that came to the Mandalorian system. One was a former Jedi who left out of grievances with the Order. He was brought in the capital city of Sundari and took on a bride. They bore many children and created the Uchiha Clan. The other was someone who was self taught in the ways of the Force. They had no master at all to train them and only was left to their own devices. This brought them power that rivaled the Jedi, but instead of joining them, she found her way to the moon of Concordia where she was brought in and wed a strong and honorable soldier and the two settled with several children, making them the first clan of Concordia in centuries. They became the Hyuuga Clan.

    It has been a thousand years and with the help of the Hyuuga Clan, their village has prospered and grown in a large commune for their fellow mercenaries and any citizens. This was one of the newly formed Hidden Villages.

    It’s now the time the Sith had turned the attention to Mandalore. More like one of the acolytes has. He was running through the open training ground in front of the pyramid temple of Korriban. Around him were the masters training new students. Sith training was harsh, inflicting the worst of pains so the students could thrive on it. They were to endure or perish. He ran right up to the front gate of the temple, guarded by one lone soldier.

    “I need to speak to the masters.” The acolyte said as he removed his helmet, revealing a pale white young man with long jet black hair. His eyes were outlined with a thin purple paint that made his eyes look more reptilian.

    “You have no business with the Brothers at this moment, Orochimaru.” The guard told him.

    “It’s important and time is of the essences.” Orochimaru pressed.

    “Who is it?” said a deep voice from the intercom of the gate.

    The guard turned back to the intercom and said into it, “It’s only an acolyte, my Lord.”

    “Let him in.”

    “My Lord, it’s just Orochimaru up to his usual-”

    “Let him in.”

    Not foolish enough to continue to argue with the man on the other end of the intercom, the guard only opened the gate. Orochimaru walked through the hall of the inner temple towards the elevator. It was open, waiting for him. He walked in and pushed the button to reach the upper level.

    Orochimaru had a twinge of fear running through him as he waited for the elevator to reach the top floor. He had never stood before the Dark Brotherhood of Nine alone before. Only his master would speak on his behalf to the nine Sith Lords, but his master was now dead, slain by Orochimaru’s hand, and he had to relay this message alone. He had no idea what to expect. His dread filled him more when the elevator doors opened, showing the dark chamber of the Dark Brotherhood.

    They all sat in thrones that went along the far wall. The rest of the chamber was simple, a meeting table in the middle of the chamber with only nine chairs and a computer console. The lights were dim and any additional light was lit by levitating red crystals. In the dark room, Orochimaru could make out the dark figures in the thrones as he came closer to them.

    He knelt down on a small rug that was at the bottom of the three steps leading up to the throne row and said, “My Lords, I have come with important news.”

    “As we have sensed, young Orochimaru.” Darth Tirashias said as he cupped his hands together. “We sense anticipation as well as fear. If there is fear, then there is the possibility that this information you wish to relay to us may not be of any use.”

    “I can assure you that it is, Lord Tirashias.” Orochimaru told him. “I have encountered a vergence in the Force.”

    "A vergence?” asked the large brute of the order Darth Sati. “How did you come across this vergence?”

    “In a dream, my Lord.” Orochimaru answered. “I dreamed of the birth of a small child. His face was that of the Uchiha of Mandalore. My Lords, I believe that this may very well be the true Chosen One.”

    “The Chosen One, you say?” Darth Sekti, the masked and hooded assassin chuckled. “Last we heard, it was Anakin Skywalker who was the Chosen One and yet the Sith and Jedi still thrive.”

    “I’m certain of it, my Lord. I know this boy is the one to bring balance. We need to move now and bring him here for training.”

    “You dare make demands of us, Orochimaru?” Darth Karis, Tirashias’ right hand man asked. The tone in Karis’ voice sent a chill up Orochimaru’s spine. He wasn’t even aware that he had crossed the line, but he knew his vision was correct and they had to move.

    “My apologies, my Lords. I sense that the boy has not been birthed yet but he will soon. I only suggest that we make our move and bring the Uchiha heiress here so we can bring him into our world.”

    There was only silence amongst the Order. They looked about each other, all contemplating this information. After the death of his master, very little information was directed to the Order about Orochimaru. What they knew about his was that he had been adept in his training, but he was a bit unstable. That alone should have made them question his reliability.

    But there was something else and they all felt it. There was something brewing in the Force. There was an elusive energy flux that made them wonder if the Prophecy was indeed coming true. If that was so then it’s possible that the Prophecy of old was false and that the time was upon them. What if Orochimaru was correct and the Chosen One had finally arrived. If that was so, then the Sith Empire was in danger.

    “We must deliberate on this, Orochimaru.” Tirashias told him. “For the time being, send your student to Mandalore to watch over the boy. If he is indeed the Chosen One, then he must be trained in the ways of the Force before we can fully unlock his power.”

    “Yes, my Lord.” Orochimaru was good at one thing the most, hiding his discontent. He thought that they would have agreed to move onto Mandalore sooner so they could acquire the boy.

    And why did they want him trained before they could turn him? Why couldn’t the Sith on Korriban train him?

    Not wanting to endure any more from the Dark Lords before him, he took his leave and left the nine Sith to plot their next move.

* * *

  ** _Seven Years Later...  
_**

    The young man with his black hair tied in a long ponytail sat on the edge of the stream as he used his Force powers to levitate the smooth rocks about him. Though he was done with his training for the day, he still wanted to balance himself out. His family taught him that his anger was the strongest weapon in battle, but he found that the calming moments of just sitting next to the creek and listening to the water rush gave him peace. He just used this to test his ability to tap into what the calming light gave him.

    This didn’t distract him from the presence slowly creeping up on him. He couldn’t help but smirk at the tiny creeper stalking him.

     _Should I or should I not?_ He thought to himself. _I shouldn’t, but I will._

    Reaching out with the Force, he grabbed the little creeper by the ankle. From out of the bushes was pulled a little child with raven hair. He has the same face as the student by the stream.

    “Hey, not funny, Itachi! Put me down!” Cried out the small seven year old.

    Smirking, Itachi brought his little brother in front of him, reached his arm up and poked the boy in the forehead. He softly placed the boy on the ground. Straightening himself out and dusting his clothes off, the boy sat up to pout at Itachi.

    “You need to learn how to conceal your presence, Sasuke.” Itachi told him, slowing placing the stones on the ground. “But, I think I’m being too serious on this. You’ve only begun your training.”

    “I’ve been training as long as I can remember!” Sasuke whined. “When will I fully become one with the Force? And when do I get my lightsaber?”

    “Patience, Sasuke. Patience.”

    With that, Itachi offered Sasuke a trip to the local bakery for some cake, to which little Sasuke was happy for. Itachi took his little brother by the hand and took him to the upper city limits. Along the way, Sasuke asked, “Itachi, are we Jedi Knights or Sith Lords?”

    Itachi looked down at his little brother, his eyebrow twitched skeptically. He asked Sasuke, “Why do you ask?”

    “Well, father says we train in the Dark Side, just like the Sith. But mother says we need to keep to the Light. The Jedi train in the Light. Where do we belong?”

    “Sasuke, we’re neither.” Itachi told him as the made it to the city boarder. “The Uchiha train in both the Light and Dark. We base our power on the emotions of the Uchiha themselves. If one was prone to anger and aggression, they would be prone to the Dark Side. If they were prone to calmness and were passive, they were prone to the Light.”

    “I don’t get it.”

    Itachi was internally slapping himself. He was being too technical for a boy Sasuke’s age. He told Sasuke, “I’ll tell you when you’re older. Let’s get a snack then we have to get home. We’ll be going to Concordia tonight.”

    “Why?” Sasuke asked.

    “Do you remember father’s friend, Hiashi Hyuuga?” Itachi asked. Sasuke nodded, remembering the tall man from the neighboring moon. He remembered the Hyuuga clan, all dressed in similar robes as the elder Uchiha, but were pure white instead of the Uchiha navy blue. He remembered the pure white eyes they had, he thought they were very pretty. Itachi continued, “Well, he just had a baby and we were invited to the ceremony.”

    “He had a baby?” Sasuke asked. “Don’t girls have babies?”

    Itachi held back his laughter, he only continued on to the bakery.

* * *

    That night, the Uchiha patriarch family was shuttled to Concordia to the village of Konohagakure. Sasuke looked out to the lush green mixed with the rocky terrain of the planet below. He was wowed by the amount of green trees that blanketed the landscape. He never saw actual trees outside the artificial agriculture of the parks and reservoirs around the upper city of Sundari. Even through the orange light of the sunset, he couldn’t help but be astounded by the green plant life.

    On the horizon, he saw the village. It was far more primitive from the more advanced city he was born in. It looked like something out of the stories his mother would tell him. He didn’t degrade it though, he always thought it would be nice to visit a village like this. He knew absolutely nothing about the village other than that the Hyuuga lived here.

    The ship flew over the village and Sasuke looked at the large cliff overlooking the village. He was astounded by the four faces carved into the cliff face. He didn’t know who the four men were but he was bound to find out one day. The ship reached the edge of the village limits and landed on a large platform. There were several other shuttles on the platform and there were other people being shuttled into the forest surrounding the platform. The Uchiha exited the ship and were brought to a shuttle by a service droid. The shuttle took off into the forest.

    Through the trees, Sasuke could see the sky fade from orange to purple as the sun continued to set. It was an amazing sight for him. He always watched the sunset through the dome of Sundari. He had never seen real trees before and never heard the wind blowing through them, the leaves rustling in the breeze. He felt some sense of peace at the experience.

    The shuttle arrived at the large compound in the center of the forest. It was lit up with large torches to brighten the atmosphere. The compound was unlike the Uchiha Grounds, which was all done up in the lavished structures and highest quality of statues. This compound was, like the rest of the village, more primitive and old fashion.

    The Uchiha family entered the grounds and into the courtyard where the ceremony was being conducted. There was a small gathering around a small group of people. Sasuke recognized Hiashi, but he didn’t recognize the others. Standing with the head of the Hyuuga clan was a woman that held a small bundle in her arms. At her feet was a little girl, looking about Sasuke’s age. There was a tall man who looked almost exactly like Hiashi standing with a boy who looked to be a year older than Sasuke.

    “Itachi, who are these people?” Sasuke asked.

    Itachi looked out to the group from the line of chairs they were all sitting in. He said that the woman was Hiashi’s wife and the girl was their daughter Hinata. The other man was Hiashi’s brother Hizashi and his son Neji. The bundle was the newborn daughter of Hiashi, a little girl named Hanabi. The ceremony was her induction into the way of life of the Hyuuga.

    Sasuke knew that the Hyuuga’s custom were similar to the Uchiha’s. Both clans were powerful in the Force, but the Hyuuga were closer to the Jedi. Though emotions were allowed, they had to be at a bare minimum. Suppression of emotions was key element of the Hyuuga, especially in battle. Outside that and training, the Hyuuga were free to feel as much as they wished. The Uchiha were different, their emotions were all they had in the Force. No matter what, whether it was love or hate, calm or anger, the emotions were the Uchiha’s key to the Force. They were closer to the Sith, but found their power in both the Light and the Dark Side.

    The ceremony was boring to Sasuke. All they did was talk about the history of the Hyuuga and just splashed some water on the baby, making her giggle. Afterwards, Hiashi and Hizashi activated their lightsabers, gleaming with pure white aura, and made an arch over the baby’s crib. Sasuke never saw a ceremony for anyone born in his family, but then again he is the youngest in the clan. He had to ask what they did and hoped it wasn’t boring like this.

    After the ceremony was done, everyone present went to see the baby. When it was the Uchiha’s turn, Sasuke wasn’t directing his attention to the baby, but the eldest daughter of the Hyuuga clan, Hinata. She was shyly clinging to her mother’s robe, hiding herself from the guests. Some of the people made comments about how cute she was, only adding more to her shyness. Sasuke couldn’t stop looking at her. He found her to be adorable, like a little fluffy animal. She spoke with such a squeaky high pitch voice when she greeted the people, but it was still very low and quiet. Sasuke was in love with the way it sounded.

    “Sasuke?” his mother brought him out of his daze. “Would you like to say hello to Hinata?”

    Sasuke bashfully stared at her as she hid herself closer to her mother. He finally greeted her, “H-hello.”

    “H-Hi, Sasuke.” Hinata saying his name sent a chill up his spine.

    “Would you like to get to know Sasuke, Hinata?” her mother asked. Hinata was still shyly shuffling closer away, but her mother encouraged her, “Don’t worry, Hinata. Sasuke’s a sweet boy, aren’t you?”

    “Y-Yes, ma’am.” Sasuke answered her. Hinata, not wanting to be rude, came out from hiding behind her mother and walked up to Sasuke. The two looked at each other, a blush upon each other’s cheek.

    “Go on, children. Run along.” Sasuke’s mother told the two. With that, Sasuke held on to Hinata’s hand, boldly taking it, and took her out of the courtyard and into the compound.

    “What is there to do around here?” Sasuke asked Hinata.

    “W-Well, we have a p-pretty garden.” Hinata bashfully stuttered as she began to list off the things to do around the compound. “W-We have a dojo. My m-mommy has a collection of p-paintings.”

    “The garden sounds nice.” Sasuke suggested. There was something in her eye, a look she had, that showed that she had hoped for the garden. It was her favorite place in the entire compound. All the beautiful colors of the flowers entranced her with their beauty. She also spent most of her time with her mother out in the garden.

    The two children went out to the garden, the entire pavilion lit up with torches in contrast to the night sky. Though his mother also had a garden, the torch light mixed with the moonlight gave the flowers an amazing glow. He never saw flowers in full moonlight before. He was amazed by it all.

    “H-Have you never seen a garden b-before, Sasuke?” Hinata asked.

    “It’s not that.” Sasuke said, not taking his attention off the garden. “We have no moonlight in the Uchiha Palace. It’s so pretty here.”

    “I’ve never b-been to Sundari.” Hinata said as she looked up at the planet above. “I-I’ve never even been t-to the planet. I-I can’t imagine what i-it’s like.”

    Sasuke looked back at her, seeing the look of wonder in her eyes as she looked up at Mandalore. The planet was like a much larger moon. He was surprised that she had never been to Mandalore before. A family as well known as hers and she had never once been to the planet.

    “I’ll take you there, if you’d like.” Sasuke told her. She gasped at his statement.

    “R-Really?”

    “Yeah! When I’m old enough, I’m going to become a pilot! I can come here and take you all across Mandalore!”

    “S-Sasuke, that’s so sweet of you!” Hinata hugged Sasuke. He was bashful about it of course, but he can say he honestly enjoyed it. She said to him, “I-I’ve never had a friend before. Could y-you be my friend?”

    “You betcha, Hinata.” He told her.

    Sasuke felt so happy right now, but that happiness wouldn’t last long.

 


	2. Burning Embers

    “Itachi, take your brother and hide, right now!” Sasuke and Itachi’s father Fugaku order. In the background, there’s the sound of screaming and lightsaber clashing. Jedi blue and green blades clash with the navy blue blades of the Uchiha. The Jedi broke intergalactic space and swarmed Sundari, the Republic military fighting off Mandalorian forces trying to stop them. The Jedi invaded the Uchiha Palace and overcame most of the elders. The palace was now slowly being destroyed, the occupants dying inside. Following his father’s orders, Itachi held Sasuke in his arms and ran to hide.

    The boys went to the basement level of the palace and Itachi slipped into the crawlspace, holding Sasuke tightly. After a while, with the sound of battle still roaring through the corridors of the palace, Itachi let Sasuke go and told him, “Sasuke, no matter what happens, stay here.”

    “Itachi, where are you going?” Sasuke cried out as Itachi crawled out from the crawl space and used the Force to collapse the roof in front of the crawlspace opening, blocking Sasuke in. Through the opening in the rubble, Sasuke watched as Itachi pull out his lightsaber and run up the steps above. Sasuke was terrified as he waited. He tried to push the rocks away, but they were too heavy and he was too small. He continued to cry out for his brother.

    After a long time, the sound of battle began to simmer out. By the sound of lightsabers clashing, there were only a few fighters left. Sasuke was now in tears of despair. His training in the Force was minuscule, but he could feel that everyone around him, his family, his clan, were all but wiped out. He couldn’t sense his parents or Itachi. He feared the worst.

    That’s when he saw through the hole in the debris that made him even more fearful. Itachi came tumbling down the steps, more like he was thrown down. His lightsaber was thrown from his hand as he landed at the bottom of the steps. He was bloody and covered in bruises. Following him were two armored Jedi Knights, their lightsabers in hand. Sasuke let out a whimper, but covered his mouth to keep the sound from escaping his throat.

    “You shouldn’t fight, boy.” One of the Jedi told him. “We don’t want to hurt you. We want to help you out of this plot.”

    “I told you…” Itachi groaned. “There is no plot. The Uchiha wanted nothing to do with the Republic. Whoever told you we were going to invade was lying.”

    “We couldn’t take any chances, son.” The other Jedi told him. “With the Dark Side in you, we had to take action.”

    “The Dark Side is synonymous with lies.” The first Jedi added. “You are strong in the Force. Let us help you.”

    Sasuke listened in on the conversation in fear. He may have been young, but he knew what the Jedi were saying and he feared them. They thought that the Uchiha were going to invade the Republic?  But the Uchiha wanted nothing to do with the Republic, just like Itachi said.

    Itachi looked up at the debris he made to cover Sasuke. He couldn’t sense his brother, meaning he was concealing his presence. All Sasuke was doing was just pretending he wasn’t even there. Itachi thought that if Sasuke continued this, he’d be safe. Through the gap in the debris, Itachi locked eyes with his little brother.

    “Go to hell, Jedi scum!” Itachi growled as he reached out with the Force and pulled his lightsaber back into his hand. But before he could activate it, the second Jedi plunged his lightsaber into Itachi, pinning him to the ground. As the blade entered his body, Itachi only grimaced in pain, not wanting to give the Jedi the satisfaction of a dying cry. With his last breaths, Itachi looked back up into the gap in the debris.

    Sasuke, still covering his mouth, cried out as his brother was impaled. His eyes began to flow tears like a river. He could tear his eyes away from Itachi, fearing that if he did Itachi would die. He twitched as the blade was pulled from his brother and the Jedi left, ordering the troops to pull out. After a while, sensing the Jedi’s departure, Sasuke, giving it his all, used the Force to push the debris out of his way so he could climb out. Frantic, he climbed over to Itachi as he lay dying.

    “Itachi! Itachi!” he cried out. “Please, hold on!”

    “Sasuke…” Itachi groaned. He reached his hand up, shaking as he mustered the strength to do so, and gave Sasuke a poke to the forehead. With a smile, he told Sasuke, “…Little brother…there’s something you should know…”

    Sasuke gulped at Itachi’s words. He was almost afraid of what was about to be told to him.

    “Sasuke…” Itachi harshly whispered. “You…You are the Chosen One…”

    “W-What?” Sasuke gasped.

    “It is you…who will bring balance to the Force.”

    “H-How?...How?”

    “There was…such a surge of hope…when you were born. There was a tremor so great and so intense...The Force wills it…Sasuke, you will rescue the galaxy…you will put things right and bring the Force to peace…”

    “I-I can’t!”

    “You can, you will…I believe in you…I love you, Sasuke…I’ll always protect you…”

    With that, Itachi gasped his last breath and went limp.

    “Itachi!” Sasuke sobbed as he shook Itachi. “Itachi!” Nothing. His brother was gone. Sasuke pulled himself to his knees and began to sob as he mourned his brother. He looked to his brother’s hand, still gripping his lightsaber. Sasuke reached down and pulled it from his brother’s dead hand.

    That was when he felt it. The driving impulse. He could feel it growing inside him.

    Revenge.

    He lifted himself up, the hilt still in his hand, and mindlessly walked up the steps to the upper level. He looked out to the courtyard, littered with the bodies of both Uchiha and Jedi. He felt nothing when he saw the bodies of his parents, his father on top of his mother as though to protect her. He looked about the carnage and only felt one emotion. Even through the numbness he was shrouded in, all the drain of any feeling, he had only one urge coursing through him.

    Anger.

    Never before had he felt so much anger. He could feel it boiling inside him, growing stronger and strong with every Uchiha corpse he walked past. He felt tingling in his fingers as the rage grew. He felt hatred writhing in him. He hated the Jedi for what they have done. He was now alone.

    Sasuke dropped Itachi’s lightsaber as he threw his hands in the air, giving a loud roar as lighting shot from his finger tips. The cracks of Dark Side lightning reached to the structures that were built into the city dome above him. It was like a violent thunderstorm that raged out of control. As he released his anger, Sasuke’s eyes went from the standard Uchiha charcoal to the fiery yellow that everyone in the Dark Side was prone to.

     _“I-I’ve never had a friend before. Could y-you be my friend?”_

    Those words echoed in his head and he gasped for air. Hinata's innocent face popped into his mind with those words. When it did, he felt a calming wave hit him. His screaming ceased and could feel his anger subside. His eyes then returned to normal. He stopped the lighting and collapsed to the ground as the image of Hinata popped in his head. He was breathing heavily, not only from the exhausting display he had just released, but from the relief he felt when Hinata’s image popped in his head in the midst of all this. He fell to his knees and leaned forward, trying to calm himself. He just couldn't stop thinking about how she would react is she saw him like this, how any of them would. His mother, his father, Itachi. He sat up again and began to sob loudly once more.

* * *

 

    It was nighttime on Korriban as Orochimaru along with his silver hair apprentice Kabuto walked into the Dark Brotherhood’s chamber. The nine Sith Lords stood in front of their thrones, waiting for the two Sith to arrive. The two knelt before Darth Tirashias.

    “I must say Orochimaru, you defiantly were correct on this matter.” Tirashias told the newly decorated Sith Master. “I’m certain you felt the dark energy from the boy. He's now been tainted by the Dark Side.”

    “I have, my Lord.” Orochimaru said as he looked up at the head of the Order. “It was my student’s brilliant planning that executed this trigger for Sasuke.”

    “Really?” asked Darth Skautas, the youngest of the nine. “Do tell.”

    “I sent out a message to the Republic, my Lords.” Kabuto told the Brotherhood. “I had to break a sweat and shed blood to get the evidence, but the Pikes won’t mind it. With their heads on the Capital steps and the Uchiha brand on their foreheads and message written in their blood spelling out a false invasion threat from the Uchiha, an invasion of Mandalore was eminent.”

    “This plan of yours was almost perfect, but you should have thought of one little detail.” The masked Darth Saud stepped forward. “What if the Jedi killed the boy?”

    “The Jedi wouldn’t kill a child his age.” Darth Diyinita, the masked Cyclops of the Brotherhood, interjected. “They would have taken him in and we would have just send in another campaign to retrieve him.”

    “He is correct, my Lord.” Kabuto shamefully said. “I didn’t think of that. The Jedi could have harmed him.”

    “It is of little concern now.” Tirashias said. “The boy is now on the path of the Dark Side. We must wait until he is of age then we’ll take him. I know he’ll come to us willingly. The Jedi's precious 'Chosen One' shall be the Sith's ultimate pawn once again. History shall repeat itself.”

* * *

 

    A tall man with long spiky blonde hair entered the Hyuuga compound. He was wearing green Mandalorian armor with a blue suit, standard armory for any Konohagakure soldier. With his attire was a long white cape with red flames reaching up from the hem. Whenever he walked past anyone, they’d bow to him, him bowing back of course. He made his way to Hiashi’s chambers, who was meditating upon the man’s entrance. The Hyuuga broke from his session and looked up at the man.

    “Lord Hokage.” Hiashi greeted him. Hiashi stood up and formally bowed before the man.

    “No need for pleasantries, Lord Hiashi.” The Hokage, Minato Namikaze, smiled to the man. His smile went away when he asked, “How is the boy?”

    Hiashi looked away, to a small room adjacent to his chambers where the young Uchiha was suppose to be sleeping. However, he was only sitting on the bed staring into space, his face void of any emotion whatsoever. But Hiashi knew what was hiding under the comatose child’s face.

    “I’ve never felt such anger in one person before.” Hiashi told Minato. “The Jedi slaughter his entire clan, leaving him the only survivor.”

    “Poor kid.” Minato exclaimed. “Why did they do this?”

    “I got word from an ally in the Republic. Apparently the Pike Syndicate was wiped out, their decapitated heads found on the steps of the capital building on Couresant with the Uchiha insignia branded on their foreheads and an invasion threat. Lord Hokage, I believe the Sith were responsible.”

    “I wouldn’t be surprised. The Sith haven’t set foot on Mandalorian soil since Darth Maul. Ever since, we’ve trained our best to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

    “I’m afraid your training isn’t good enough. I’ll gladly offer some members of my clan to aid your forces.”

    Minato thanked him, but he saw something in Hiashi’s eyes.

    “What is it?” he asked the Hyuuga.

    “This boy…” Hiashi murmured. “Lord Hokage, I believe this boy is the Chosen One.”

    Minato tensed at the mentioning of this possibility. He many not know much of the Force, but he understood enough that everyone feared that the Prophecy, long after the Skywalker family faded away in the galaxy, that there wouldn’t be any balance. He heard the stories of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, their fight to maintain balance in the Force. But even with their efforts, the Sith and Jedi kept warring. Everyone thought the Sith were done for until nearly a decade ago when Darth Tirashias with his Dark Brotherhood of Nine took control of Korriban and Dromund Kaas. With them controlling the growing Sith Empire, everyone wondered if the Prophecy had any truth to it whatsoever.

    “Lord Hiashi, are you certain of this?” Minato asked.

    “I am.” Hiashi told him quietly. “How I didn’t sense it three days ago when the Uchiha were here, I don’t know. But I sense such power in him waiting to be unlocked.”

    “What are you going to do to him?”

    “I’ll train him. I’ll try my best to replicate the Uchiha style for him, but I’ll also train him in the ways of the Hyuuga as well. Anything to help him. But, this must remain a secret between us until the time is right.”

    Minato was about to respond when Hinata opened the door to the chamber.

    “O-Oh! Good morning, Lord Hokage!” Hinata bowed to Minato. “H-How is Naruto?”

    “Much better, Hinata.” Minato smiled down at Hinata. He turned to Hiashi and said, “That boy of mine can be really rambunctious. He broke his arm the other day overdoing his training. Kushina was not happy.”

    “I’m certain.” Hiashi chuckled, knowing that Minato was trying to draw the nature of the previous conversation.

    “I-I’m just bringing Sasuke s-some tea.” Hinata said, picking the tray up from the ground. The two men watched her walk into the room Sasuke was in. When the door closed, they looked at each other with a look that said “We’ll discuss this later”.

    Hinata felt very nervous in the room with Sasuke. He was only sitting on the bed, staring into a blank void. She wasn’t fully attuned, but she could sense his anger. Never before had she ever encountered the Dark Side. She had only met him a few days ago, but she couldn’t help but feel the different aura that went from kind and innocent to cold and cunning.

    Despite that…

    “S-Sasuke, I brought you some tea.” She told him as she sat the tray down on the small table next to his bed. He didn’t even acknowledge her. The look on his face sent nothing but fear into her. Not fear of him, but fear for him. He was so kind to her when they first met, now that kindness was replaced by nothingness. She didn’t know what to tell him. She wanted to say anything to bring him out of his state, but she only let her words flow naturally, letting the Force guide her, “S-Sasuke, I know you probably c-can’t hear me, b-but I want you to know something. Y-You’re not alone. If there is anything y-you need, please tell me. I’ll always be here for you.”

    Sasuke still said nothing. She stood up and said, “I-I’ll go now.”

    That was when Sasuke jumped out of the bed and wrapped his arms around Hinata. She was taken by surprise, but she felt him trembling as he held her tightly. He was scared. She could feel it. His face was still without emotion, but he was afraid. He was afraid of her leaving and she could feel it. The only thing she could do was hold him in her arms.

* * *

    Time has gone since the Uchiha massacre and Sasuke was starting to come out of his room after days of not even stepping a foot near the door. He use to spend days and days in there, but he was finally starting to come out during the day time. The Hyuuga still felt his anger, but that was subdued whenever Hinata was around. No one knew why though since he was always very cold and quiet. It was like a light bulb burning out when he would meet with her. Upon exiting his room, the Hyuuga sensed the anger writing in him, but when Hinata would greet him, that anger faded away. What astounded everyone else was that Hinata, sweet and gentle Hinata, wasn’t afraid of him. It was no big secret that Sasuke’s nature was immersed in the Dark Side, but Hinata still treated him like he was a normal person.

    Of course, most things around Sasuke were far from normal when it came to Hinata. One day, the two of them were strolling through the village. Everyone knew who Hinata was and knew better than to give her unwanted attention. However, some of the younger kids didn’t understand the Hyuuga and would poke fun at her pearly eyes. On this day when they were out, three boys started picking on her, even with Sasuke there. That was their mistake. Despite not training for a while, Sasuke had grown with power in the Force in his seclusion in anger and used it to throw the boys into a nearby pond.

    One night, an assassin broke into the Hyuuga compound and tried to kidnap Hinata. However, Sasuke was there to stop the assassin. He mocked Sasuke for being a small child standing in his way, but his words were caught short when he felt something wrap around his neck. He grappled at his throat but felt nothing there. It was Sasuke, using Force choke to silence the assailant. But the boy wasn’t done there. Using the Force, he twisted the man head and snapped his neck. The man, upon investigating, was actually the commander of Kumogakure, an enemy village on Concordia.

    Word got back to Kumogakure that their commander was killed in the Hyuuga compound, believing that it was a Hyuuga that kill him, and wanted Hiashi dead. Instead, his brother Hizashi agreed to take his place. This caused tension in the Hyuuga clan, especially with Neji. Neji had come to resent Hiashi for letting his father die. He had come to resend Sasuke for causing the mayhem that lead up to this. More importantly, he had come to resent Hinata, a link between them. He knew that Hiashi was too powerful and the Hyuuga were protecting Sasuke, so he took his anger out on Hinata.

    This was a fatal mistake.

    One day during training with Hinata while her parents were away, Neji started to become more aggressive in his fighting style. He and Hinata, like any other Hyuuga under the age of ten, fought with sticks. However, Neji was of age and had already formed his lightsaber. On this day, Neji started to give her stronger strikes. Hinata was starting to lose stamina and was losing her grip on her stick. It was thrown from her hand after Neji gave it a strong blow. He then gave Hinata a blow to the abdomen then brought it down on her back. He kicked her hard and she fell back.

    Neji threw the stick away and pulled out his lightsaber.

    “You better put that away.” He heard Sasuke speak. Hinata, recovering from her injuries, looked up to see Sasuke entering the training grounds.

    “Well, if it isn’t the precious Uchiha.” Neji mocked as he activated his lightsaber. “The Hyuuga’s prized possession.”

    Not saying a word, Sasuke pulled out his lightsaber, Itachi’s lightsaber, and activated it. Without warning, Neji ran to Sasuke and swung his blade. Sasuke only dodged it. Neji kept swinging his lightsaber, only for Sasuke to dodge it. Sasuke was already training with Hiashi at this point so it was all paying off. Sasuke didn’t even have to raise his own blade to stop Neji. Sasuke moved behind Neji as he gave another swing. Turning to face Neji, Sasuke casually swung his blade about.

    It was now that Sasuke was done toying with Neji. Sasuke clashed his blade against Neji’s and started to swing the two blades around until it Neji let his go. It flew up in the air and Sasuke gave Neji a blow to the stomach, causing the Hyuuga to collapse on his knees. Neji’s lightsaber fell into Sasuke’s hand and he scissor the two blades together around Neji’s neck. Neji, not wanting to make any sudden movements, looked up at Sasuke. There was fear in the Hyuuga’s eyes.

    “You touch Hinata again,” Sasuke said. “I’ll kill you.”

    Sasuke deactivated the lightsabers and used Neji’s hilt to hit the Hyuuga across the face, knocking him to the ground. Sasuke dropped Neji’s lightsaber and clipped his own to his belt and turned to walk over to Hinata.

    Hinata was sitting on the ground, holding her abdomen from the strikes she received. She was looking up at Sasuke in horror. He noticed, but didn’t care. He only went over and picked her up in his arms, the look of horror fading to surprise. The two looked into each other’s eyes, the look he was giving her calming her down.

    “W-Why did you do that?” Hinata asked.

    Blankly, Sasuke responded, “Because he hurt you. I’d kill him, but I know you wouldn’t have approved.”

    With that, Sasuke carried Hinata away to find a healer.

* * *

 

    As part of an age old agreement that the Hyuuga had with the village, their youngest had to enroll in the academy. The Hyuuga were masters of the Force, but they had to learn the Mandalorian ways as well. Force abilities and lightsabers were well enough, but there had to come a possibility that hand to hand combat and blaster fighting would possibly come in handy. Since Sasuke was a ward of the Hyuuga, he had to enroll as well. This was an annoyance to him. It wasn’t that he felt that he didn’t need Mandalorian training, in fact quite the opposite. He knew that it would be a great asset since Mandalorian were the only warrior race that could best a Force sensitive in combat. But he was attracting unwanted attention, especially from the girls in his class. Dark, brooding and menacing Sasuke Uchiha, sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre and training to become the bane of the Jedi Order, was now at the mercy of the young girls of Konohagakure. He of course had his repellent, and that was Hinata.

    Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one attracting all the girls. They were also going after a young boy in his class with spiky blonde hair. His name was Naruto, the son of the Hokage. Sasuke had heard a great deal about Naruto, hearing he was strong, quick and didn’t use his family to get ahead, that he was a hard worker. Sasuke also heard that he was a loudmouth and a knucklehead. “Dead Last” was the name Sasuke gave him. He never interacted with Naruto, but he could tell that he was a brat, but he also had to admire him as well. He saw Naruto in the academy and despite annoying their teacher Iruka, Naruto was defiantly a defiant force to be reckoned with.

    One day, when everyone was at lunch, Sasuke was sitting alone because Hinata was “sick”. By sick, meaning that Neji had overdone their sparing again and Sasuke wasn’t there to stop it this time, not that it wouldn't go unpunished. He always found a spot he could hide from the fangirls. It was amazing how many girls were going after both him and Naruto at the same time, but he knew that one girl was always at Naruto’s side. They were supposedly best friends since the Hokage and the girl’s father worked closely and the families were tight knit. The girl’s name was Sakura Haruno.

    But on this day, Sasuke was feeling a bit lonely. He missed Hinata. Despite his dark nature upon coming to the village, he had become a tiny bit more open, more to Hinata. He felt like he could use some company today.

    That was when he saw Naruto walking over to him. He didn’t have his lunch in hand so he must have eaten already. Sasuke thought that since he heard that word got to Naruto about Sasuke and him rivaling Naruto in class, he thought Naruto would probably cause trouble since he was such a hothead. However, when Naruto walked up to him he only said one word to Sasuke.

    “Hi.”


	3. The Compassionate Son

Naruto, the son and only child of the Hokage of Konohagakure, was born with greatness running through his veins. His parents, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, were both raised fierce and powerful warriors, like any true Mandalorian. They met in their years in the academy and built a strong bond that was built to withstand the test of time. They wed and bore their son. Kushina gave birth to Naruto, withstanding the pain like a true Mandalorian. Minato was given the position of Hokage and vowed to lead his people into an age of prosperity that it has never seen before. He kept this promise and trained his soldiers to be the best, like a true Mandalorian.

Kushina, despite her warrior upbringing, treasured her husband and son more than anything in the entire galaxy. Lay all the wealth in the universe at her feet and she'll choose her family. Kushina's greatest fear and sorrow was the terrifying thought that Naruto would be left alone without his family. She was thankful that she was one of the most feared warriors in not only the Mandalorian system, but the entire Outer Rim because anyone who had the audacity to even give her son the wrong look would lose their eyes. She faced Sith and Jedi alike, she crawled her way out of Sarlaccs, she took down an entire criminal syndicate all on her own, and she came out alive. Minato knew that there was nothing that his wife couldn't do.

Minato himself was descendent from greatness himself. He was the son of Legendary Sanin of Konohagakure Tsunade and Jiraya. He was brought up in the old was and trained in the style of legendary Mandalorians that passed down through his parents. Jaster Mereel, Jango Fett, Boba Fett, the Vizsla clan, they all lived through him. He was the pride of Mandalore, but he chose to lead the people of a small village on the moon of Concordia. Many would think he'd rule the people to become barbarians and berserkers, but he trained his people to do one thing: protect. He wanted Konohagakure to be a beacon of hope, not a village of hate. Many thought this a sign of weakness, but they fell quicker than they came. Minato himself had lead the people into victory many times and a new era began under his control.

Now was time for the two of them to face a new journey in their lives; parenthood. Naruto's golden hair was like a light in their lives. They knew this precious little boy they had created was their new inspiration to protect. They wanted him to avoid the bloody ways of Mandalore, but knew it was unavoidable. They knew he was to be trained in as many ways they could teach him. Not just Mandalorian, but in all ways across the galaxy. He was to become the greatest warrior of his time. If there was one thing Naruto was not in his aging, he was not a coward. Any challenge his father or grandfather offered he faced head on. If he fell, he got right back up. If he was injured, he fought through it.

But there was one thing that surprised everyone the most about Naruto. He was a very compassionate boy. He had his moments of selfishness like any other child, but he more often put others before himself. This came full circle when he was out with his father one day. Naruto looked down an alleyway and saw a heartbreaking scene. He saw a small family, a father and mother with their little girl, picking in a dumpster for food.

"Dad, look!" he cried out. Minato turned to see the family. How could this be? That was all he asked himself. He made sure that no family would go hungry in his village. Naruto tugged on his father's hand and said, "Dad, we can't let them eat that! It's not good for them!"

"You're right, son." Minato said as he lifted Naruto in his arms and walked over to them. He called out, "Excuse me!"

The father looked up, showing an unshaven man with long dark pink hair, and looked at Minato in fear. He grabbed his wife, a thin woman with messy golden hair, and their little girl, a beautiful child with bright pink hair, and began to run off.

"Wait, wait!" Minato cried out, but they were already gone.

Minato returned to his office that day an ordered a BOLO out for the location of the homeless family. With the village's size, he knew this wasn't going to be easy…or so he thought.

Kushina was brought to the Hokage office to bring Naruto home. However, Naruto recognized the girl's bright pink hair in the distance, sitting on the swing outside the academy. Kushina was holding Naruto's hand as she took him home, but her pulled his grip from her and ran towards the girl. Kushina called out for him, but Naruto didn't stop. He ran right for her, hoping she wouldn't run away again. He reached the swing, the girl not even noticing him.

"Hi!" he chirped at her. The girl seemed like she was in a daze, but came to when Naruto greeted her. She looked up at him, surprised by his appearance. She didn't run away this time, she only gazed up at him. He smiled down at her, giving her possibly the happiest look she had ever seen.

Her pink hair was at shoulder length and had strands that covered her forehead. He clothes were ragged and dirty. Her emerald eyes looked into his, the look of despair on her face contrasting her bright and youthful eyes. She didn't know what to say to him. She had never had any friends and no other kids in the village knew who she was. She was clueless on how to respond.

"Would you like some candy?" he asked her. He pulled out some gummy candy he had in his pocket that he stole from his father's desk. Minato had quite the sweet tooth that only Naruto knew about. The girl only looked at his hand, never seeing candy before. She didn't have any reaction at all.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

She looked back up and told him, "S-Sakura."

"Sakura? That's a pretty name!"

"Naruto, is this the girl your father's looking for?" Kushina asked as she walked up to the two children.

"Yeah, mom." Naruto told her, looking back. "She has a mom and dad too."

Kushina stood before Sakura, the little girl looking up at her. Kushina was dressed in her black suit and red armor. Sakura looked up at her in fear.

"What's wrong, little one?" Kushina asked.

"Y-You're one of them." Sakura said, gripping the rope of the swing and sulking in fear. "You're one of the people who hurt my daddy and threw us out of our home."

"Sweetheart, who hurt your daddy?" Kushina asked, trying to get information from Sakura. The girl was obviously scared and didn't understand that all Mandalorians, even the ones of Concordia, Concord Dawn and Kalevala all wore the armor. She wanted to find Sakura's father and see who it was so they could stop them.

"They were mean men who threw us out of our village." Sakura said, still scared.

"Sakura, is it?" Kushina asked, earning a nod from the girl. "I'm not going to hurt you. I need you to tell me where your mommy and daddy are, okay?"

"Are you going to hurt them?"

"Sweetie, the only ones who will get hurt are the ones who hurt your daddy."

"Promise?"

"Of course, but you have to trust me."

Kushina held her hand out to Sakura. Sakura just looked at it like a defensive animal. She looked at Naruto, who was still smiling at her. For some strange reason, she found comfort in his smile. She looked back at Kushina and took the woman's hand and jumped off of the swing. She then began to tug on her hand and pulled her to the back alleys of the village. Kushina pulled her blaster out for the safety of the children. These alleys were notorious for muggers and death stick dealers and she was not going to put the children's lives in danger.

The three of them came across a large crate covered in rags and had a small lantern lit outside the opening. A curtain was used as a door to the crate. Kushina used her blaster to draw it back as she moved Sakura back. Sakura was getting scared again, but Naruto held her hand to reassure her. With Kushina looking inside, she saw Sakura's parents huddled together as they slept on old discarded pillows and rags.

"Hello?" she whispered. The two stirred as they began to wake up. Sakura's father looked up to see the Mandalorian with blaster in hand. He began to panic, begging her not to shoot.

"Please, calm down! You're scaring your little girl!" Kushina begged her.

Sakura's mother, now awake and alert, cried to her, "Please, don't hurt our little baby!"

"I'm not going to!" Kushina said as she climbed into the crate and began to reassure them. They began to calm down and held each other tightly. Kushina told them, "My name is Kushina, I'm the Hokage's wife. Sakura told me you were attacked and thrown out of your village. Who was it that did this to you?"

The two only shuttered as Kushina tried to calm them down. After calming down, Sakura's father told her, "We're from Kumogakure. Death Watch came and destroyed our home and drove us out. We had no choice but to come here. Please, we don't mean any harm."

"You don't have to worry." Kushina reassured them. She pulled up her gauntlet and called to Minato, "I found them. We need a medic right away and food and water."

After the family was taken care of by the medics, cleaned up and fed, Sakura's father met with Minato and the two talked about what happened.

"My name is Kizashi Haruno." Sakura's father introduced himself. "My wife, Mebuki, and I were part of the Kumogakure corps. I was a general in the army. I spoke out against what happened within your village and I believe our leader sent Death Watch after my family and I. We hold no allegiance to Kumogakure anymore."

"You're safe here." Minato said as he poured the man tea. "Kumogakure is far from our concern at this point, but I need someone who knows their strategies in case they come to attack us."

"I am in your services, Lord Hokage." Kizashi bowed to Minato.

Sakura was in Kushina's private garden as her mother slept in their guest room. She never had a garden of her own and felt at peace here. She felt even better after a bath and new clothes. She picked the prettiest of flowers for herself and smelled them, taking in their sweet smell.

"Hi." She heard Naruto say at the entrance. She turned to face him, smiling at him with the small bouquet of flowers in her hands. He walked up to her and the two looked at each other for a moment, Sakura holding back a chuckle at the fact that she was a little taller than him. All that aside, she was truly happy to see him.

"Thank you." She told him.

"For what?" Naruto asked as he tilted his head.

"You found me." She said as she blushed. "You saved my family."

With that, she handed him the bouquet.

"But girls aren't supposed to give boys flowers." Naruto said.

After Naruto found the Haruno family, things have been going great with them. Minato made Kizashi a general and, with her history as a soldier, Mebuki was made a teacher at the academy. Sakura was enrolled as a student and she was actually accepted by many. Of course they made fun of her forehead, but some told her just to ignore them. She made lots of friends and was very close with some, but she was always with Naruto. She became his best friend.

Despite that, Naruto looked to someone else who he felt also needed a friend. He was always seen with one of the Hyuuga, but he felt this boy needed another friend. He was always brooding alone when the Hyuuga girl wasn't around and Naruto felt sorry for him. Some would say the two are rivals, but he doubted it.

One day, he had the courage to greet Sasuke.


	4. The Forest of Death

Tirashias stood on the balcony of the citadel of Kaas City on Dromund Kaas, looking out to the rainy metropolis below. Even from here, he could here the whips and chains of the slaves many stories below. He relished in the sound, calling it "sweet music". However, this wasn't what brought him here. He was waiting for news from Orochimaru. It had been five years since the massacre of the Uchiha and it's been that long since he heard any kind of news that he liked regarding Sasuke's turn to the Dark Side. It was as if that's how far the boy would ever come close. Tirashias tensed at the very thought. Though Orochimaru discovered the boy, Tirashias and his brothers took all the credit. Orochimaru, though now given the title of Sith Lord, was still a mere acolyte in his eyes. Why should he take any glory? Not hearing anything about the boy's turn infuriated the Dark Lord to the point that he gave threats to Orochimaru.

When Orochimaru arrived last month for his month update on the boy, he told his masters, "My Lords, I regret to inform that my student on Concordia has failed to sense any more dark power from the boy. It's possible that with the Hyuuga's training, he has learned to withstand any dark power."

"Your lack of progress for these past five years have been taxing, Orochimaru!" Tirashias shouted as he slammed his fist on the arm of his throne. "I repeat, it's been five years! Are you even trying?"

"My Lord, I fear there is something around the boy." Orochimaru groveled. "I don't know what it is, but the boy has had more turns towards the Light. I sense the Dark Side in him, but I sense he embraces the Light more. It's as if the slaughter of his family is long forgotten."

"Damn you to Hell, Orochimaru!" Tirashias shot up from his throne and charged towards Orochimaru. He raised his hand and throttled Orochimaru, not with the Force, but with his own hand. "The boy is ours! Do you hear me? Ours! We worked to hard to fail now! I swear by every student I have had that if you don't succeed, you will not live to see another year!"

Putting his all, he threw Orochimaru across the room and ordered him to leave.

It's been a month since then. Though frustrated, Tirashias knew that Orochimaru may not have good news. Was he going to punish him? Probably not, not wanting to take the energy to slice his head off. It was now that he heard Orochimaru enter the balcony. Tirashias turned to face him, observing the smile on Orochimaru's face.

"Finally some good news?" the Dark Lord asked.

"Indeed, my Lord." Orochimaru said as he bowed. "I've caught the boy in the middle of the Mandalorian Chunnin Exams. I found him in the Forest of Death and faced him. My Lord, such power..."

Orochimaru shivered at the memory of what Sasuke had in his power. The more he went after Sasuke, the more frustrated he became and his anger grew and grew. He went so far that Sasuke gave him lightning, a power that could only be unlocked through the Dark Side. He sensed Sasuke's desire to kill. Orochimaru regained his composure when he remember why Sasuke became so enraged.

"My Lord, I found the secret." Orochimaru told his master. "I know why the boy was attuned to the Light and why we failed all these years."

"Tell me"

"He has friends." Orochimaru spat out. "He had formed bonds with those filthy Mandalorian mercenaries and their children. The Hokage's son is his closest friend and they are teamed together with a girl that has the Hokage's son's heart. The three of them with my old ally Kakashi have formed this cursed bond."

"Orochimaru, I don't understand why you're upset by this." Tirsashias said to him. "Of course the boy would form bonds."

"He's depending on them!" Orochimaru hissed. "He holds them like a family! And it gets worst!"

Tirashias was now more interested. He sensed Orochimaru's angry rising with whatever he was thinking about. It must be pretty bad, but Tirashias was ready for it.

"He's in love!" Orochimaru growled. "The eldest daughter of the Hyuuga clan! I don't know what it is, but she has this rancid grip on him and he is allowing her to tear him down!"

Though Orochimaru was furious, Tirashias stood like a statue. He pondered over this new information, the most he had in years. To him, this was good news. This was leverage. He could use the Hokage's son not only against Sasuke, but against the Hokage himself. He could trap Sasuke into their world using the boy and could bend the leader of village that could pose a threat to the Empire to his will. If he couldn't get the boy, then there was the girl. She could be a link to the Hokage. Then there was the Hyuuga girl. Under his mask, Tirashias gave the most sinister smile he could muster.

"How long until the next part of the Chunnin Exams?" Tirashias asked, confusing the still enraged Orochimaru.

"N-Not for another month." Orochimaru replied in a calmer tone. "They just finished the preliminaries."

"Gather up what forces we can spare. Tell Grey Mann to increase production on what droids he can. Contact Talon and tell them they are needed. Finally, tell Death Watch that they're needed. We're going to invade Concordia."

"M-My Lord!" Orochimaru gasped. "Do you think that wise? The moment we enter Mandalorian space, the Mand'alor will order her finest to aid the village. That means Overwatch as well."

"Spare me your thoughts, Orochimaru. They're not of any concern." Tirashias said before looking back out over the city. "Our years of waiting are going to pay off. It will be a day long remembered."

* * *

 

"Are you certain of this, Sakura?" Minato asked as Kushina patched her up from the preliminaries of the Chunnin Exams. All of them were in a med bay in the Forest of Death base compound.

"I'm certain, Lord Hokage. It was a Sith Lord." Sakura said, telling them about the event that took place in the forest.

\---

_A lone assasain, looking to be a bit old to be a Genin from any village on Concordia and disguised as a woman from Kusagakure, attempted to trick them, but Sasuke was their key to playing the part in stopping it. First he created a password too complicated for Naruto to remember in case someone near was eavesdropping. Despite being his girlfriend, Sakura agreed that Naruto's far from the brightest to remember and thankfully the assassin played right into their trap. At first the assassin toyed with them, mocking and taunting them. She then used a small seismic charge to separate them. Naruto was thrown across the forest and had to fight off other participants of the exams, but Sasuke and Sakura stayed put and were alone with the assassin._

_It was at this point that the event took a terrible turn. At the beginning of the exams, each team was given a scroll, an Earth or a Heaven scroll, and in order to proceed with the exams, the teams must have both scroll, meaning they had to fight each other. Team 7 had a Heaven scroll and the assassin had an Earth scroll. However, before any fighting began, the assassin took the Earth scroll and swallowed it whole. Afterwards, with one glance of the assassins eyes, both Sasuke and Sakura were given a vision, both of their heads being chopped off. Both were stunned by the vision, but Sasuke manged to pull through by activating his lightsaber and burning his thigh. He came to and carried Sakura off into the darkness of the forest to get away. As he took off, Sasuke swore he saw the flash of a red lightsaber._

_Sakura finally came to and began to panic only to have Sasuke silence her. He was terrified of the assassin. He didn't know what it was, it was more than just the vision, but there was something about the assassin that sent a sliver of fear trail up his spine. Never before had he felt such fear. His fear was visible to Sakura and she was just as scared as he was. In their fear, they didn't notice the giant serpent approaching them. When Sakura saw it, she cried out to Sasuke to run. They scattered and the serpent went after Sasuke. As if still in the trance, Sasuke swore he saw the eyes of the assassin in the eyes of the serpent. In his panic, he drew his lightsaber and slashed the beast across the face, killing it._

_They both thought they were in the clear, but the skin of the serpent began to peal back and open up, the assassin crawling out of the hole._

_"I sense your fear and desperation." the assassin hissed as she crawled from the new orifice. "It's only natural. The prey must never let down its guard, not even for a moment, in the presence of it's predator."_

_That was when she leaped from the serpent and charged Sasuke. The atrocious display left both Sasuke and Sakura parallelized in utter disbelief and fear. Sasuke could not move, but he didn't have to._

_The assassin narrowly dodged blaster bolts that hit the tree she landed on._

_"Looks like I came just in time!"_

_The victorious cheer of the Hokage's son echoed through the trees surrounding them. Sakura graciously smiled up at him as he stood proudly on one of the higher branches, overlooking the scene and giving his signature smirk to the assassin._

_"Naruto, get out of here!" Sasuke begged. "You don't know what you're up against!"_

_While Sasuke continued to beg Naruto to leave, the assassin said, "So Naruto, you managed to escape my friends. Well done."_

_It came to no surprise to Naruto that the other participants that attacked him, also Kusagakure emblems, were under orders to attack him by this woman. He also could tell that this woman was something far more than what met the eye. But he wasn't scared._

_On the other hand, Sasuke tried to figure out a way to get both Naruto and Sakura out of here. He may have fear this woman, but he wasn't going to let her hurt them. With Naruto edging the woman on, the situation was becoming more complicated and Sasuke began to fear the worst. Hoping to get them all out alive, Sasuke offered up the Heaven scroll. Both Naruto and Sakura scolded him for it, but he didn't care. If they could escape with their lives, that was all that mattered._

_"Very wise, very sensible." the woman told Sasuke._

_Sasuke tossed the scroll to the woman, but Naruto jumped in and grabbed it._

_"Stop playing the damn hero!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto. "Just stay out of it and leave it to me!"_

_In response, Naruto punched Sasuke across the face, strong enough to actually draw blood. Saskura was in utter shock to see Naruto give Sasuke such a powerful blow. Sasuke stumbled back but leaped onto another branch. The two argued the priciple of the situation, Sasuke arguing that Naruto was in over his head and Naruto counter by calling him a coward._

_"Sad, but true." the woman interjected. She mocked them, saying she could just simply kill them and take the scroll. Naruto charged her, not seeing her reach into her robe. that was when she pulled out a lightsaber. Not just any lightsaber however, a crimson Sith lightsaber._

_With one slash across the chest, Naruto was sent flying. He crashed into a thick branch, the impact caused him to cough blood. Sasuke felt a pulse rush through him. He watched in horror as Naruto fell back towards the assassin. The whole time, he felt parallelized again. He had his suspicions, but now they were correct. This was indeed a Sith, and he watched as she primed herself to cut Naruto again as he plummeted towards her._

_Then the miraculous happened. Naruto recovered and swung his foot down, roaring, "Eat this!"_

_He narrowly missed the Sith as she jumped to avoid his kick. She looked up at him, looking into his eyes and saw the fighting light return to his eyes. The blow he was just given should have weakened him, but he was now stronger. She muttered to herself, "But how? That's impossible."_

_Naruto swung back at her and began to throw punches at her, so fast that she didn't even have to to counter with her blade. She tried to predict every move, but he was too fast. In this battle, both Sakura and Sasuke stood in awe to Naruto's speed and strength. They knew he was capable of amazing feats, but he was using his strength against a Sith and was winning. The Sith tried to knock him away as she threw her hand up and Naruto felt a gust push him. He flew through the air but spun around so his feet could plant on the tree behind him and he charge her one more time._

_This time, the Sith then did something that none of the expected. She had lightning shooting out from her fingers. The bolts engulfed Naruto and he fell onto a lower branch. Even with the newly discovered power from the Sith, everyone, the Sith included were amazed by Naruto's strength._

_Sakura however was more worried than amazed. She had just watched him get electrocuted and was thrown onto a branch. All the power and strength he had, she couldn't stop think that he wasn't invincible. As she watched him collapse onto the branch, she felt a chill hit her. He was taking blow for blow and he had to have been running out of steam and she just kept thinking to herself that this blow would finally put him down. Through all of this, she cursed herself for being useless in this situation. She was only standing there in fear. She was not only failing as a Mandalorian, but she was failing as his girlfriend._

_The sith then turned her attention to Sasuke, who, like Sakura, was catatonic due to Naruto's strength and the fear of the Sith. Lightsaber active and charging, the Sith was not even a foot in front of Sasuke when Naruto returned and gave an uppercut to the Sith, causing her to fly away._

_Sasuke just stood in shock of Naruto, looking at him as he caught his breath._

_"Hey kid, you're not hurt are you?" Naruto panted. "You scaredy-cat."_

_As Naruto mocked Sasuke, he felt something pull him down to the lower level of the forest. Naruto screamed as he fell to the deepest part of the forest, Sasuke and Sakura crying out for him as he disappeared into the darkness. Naruto then stopped, the darkness surrounding him to the point that he actually began, since the beginning of the battle, to feel fear._

_"What an interesting childhood you must have had." a voice entered the darkness. Naruto thought it was the Sith, but it sounded like a man's voice._

_That was when more lightning engulfed Naruto. Naruto tried to resist, but the pain was far too great for him. He screamed out so loud that it's possible it could have been heard for miles. Naruto was then sent flying at the lightning forced him into the air. He flew back up to Sasuke and Sakura. He had finally lost consciousness as he began to plummet back down. Sakura pulled out a knife and threw it to pin his shirt to a tree._

_"Sasuke, what's wrong with you?" Sakura shouted at Sasuke. However, Sasuke was in utter shock. The whole even has left him stone cold and Sakura could see it. Sakura knew that Naruto was right all along. She often sided with Sasuke when it came to Naruto's antics, but Naruto had one thing that Sasuke didn't in this fight. "Say what you like about Naruto! That he's a pest, that he gets in the way! That he's just a kid! But at least he's doing something! At least he's no coward!"_

_Those words struck Sasuke. He finally came back when those words hit him. It was like that night, all those years ago, when the Jedi stormed his home and killed his family. He was a coward then and a coward now. He felt hate all over again. Not hatred for the Jedi, not hatred for the Sith, but hatred for himself. He stood there in fear as he watched his best friend take on a Sith alone, best her at her own game and only lost because he was caught off guard, and he did all this without a lightsaber or the Force. Naruto has proven himself to be the strongest there. Sasuke had the Force, but he felt like he was a failure to it._

_He then remembered the night it happened, the night his family died. He held his brother's dying hand and Itachi told him he was the Chosen One. Sasuke was destined to bring balance to the Force, but here he was standing in fear in the presence of a Sith. How could he bring balance if he was scared? How could he let Naruto one up him in a fight against another Force sensitive when he was the one that had the powers?_

_How could he protect Hinata?_

_"No!" Sasuke shouted, his eyes glowing flaming orange. His fear, his anger, it was swelling with in him and he could fell such energy flow through him. He felt stronger than before and relished in the power. He could sense the Sith leap from the forest depths and land on a branch across from him. He didn't know what it was, but he saw a look of euphoria on the Sith's face. He didn't care what it was. This Sith attacked him and his friends and nearly killed Naruto. With his lightsaber drawn, Sasuke vowed to himself that this Sith would die today._

_"That's more like it." Sakura muttered to herself. She finally saw Sasuke come back to life._

_"I knew it, it's finally here." the Sith said to herself. "The power of the Chosen One has come to a boil. I think I'll play with him and learn the extent of his powers."_

_Swinging his lightsaber, Sasuke charged the Sith. She took stance, waving her hand and giving a gust to throw him off. He just leaped to the sky and brought his blade down. The Sith's lightsaber was active so she blocked him. He leaped up and she tried to give him a kick as he twirled down to the ground. She swung from him but he leaped back. She maneuvered to discombobulate him, but he was ready. The two fought with a combination of lightsaber dueling and hand to hand combat. She was fast, but he could see her every move. To help him slow her down, he did something he had not done in a long time. He threw his hand out and bolts of lightning sprayed from his fingertips. She was able to block them and slither under them to swipe at him with her blade and leaped back to dodge them before taking stance._

_After contemplating the fight, the Sith gave another gust, to which Sasuke obviously dodged, but he tried the same trick she did by outmaneuvering her moves. This gave him the momentum to leap behind her and pull her off her branch. He held her tight as she fell headfirst to the ground. Her head impacted a thicker branch, the wood around her cracking and her body twitching. When she went limp, Sasuke cautiously leaped back. However, her body disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing a mind trick. Lightning reached for Sasuke but he was able to dodge it. When he landed, the Sith charged from nowhere and puched and kicked him to the ground._

_"What a disappointment you turned out to be." The Sith said as she stalked him. "You ancestors weep. The Uchiha clan would thank me for killing you. Silly little worm. And I thought you were the Chosen One."_

_Those words didn't register to Sasuke for he was focused on the small detonator in his hand. He had clipped three small charges on the Sith's robe. With one small clip, they exploded, knocking her down. He leaped up and, learning something from the Mandalorians and kept it hidden throughout the fight, pulled his sleeve up to reveal a Mando bracer and activated the whipcord to tie her to the tree._

_What Sasuke did next would have shocked even the Dark Brotherhood of Nine if they were standing there. He raised his hand up, but instead of lightning like before, from his fingertips came roaring flames. Darth Saud was the only one who could conduct pyrokinesis and how he learned to tap into such power remains unknown, but Sasuke created such powerful flames that the Sith all but vanished under them.The only way you could tell she was still there what by her screams._

_Sasuke dispersed the flames, collapsing from the strain that the fire gave him. The Sith was still alive and shuttering under the pain of what she had just endured. Sasuke and Sakura thought it was over, but the Sith broke the whipcord and stepped forward. With a reach of her hand, both Sasuke and Sakura were stunned in place._

_"No! Impossible!" Sasuke grunted._

_"Such mastery of the Force at such a young age," the Sith said, but her voice distorted, as if from going from female to male. "you are the Chosen One after all."_

_Sasuke looked up at the Sith, the flesh melting off to reveal a second face, a pale and slender face._

_"Yes, you'll do nicely."_

_Sasuke tried to regain control, but he was too worn out from the fight. In his frustration, he screamed loudly._

_"I was defiantly right about you." the Sith, revealed to be Orochimaru, said. "I predicted your birth as the Chosen One. You have so much potential, but you're being held back. But by what?"_

_Sasuke then felt Orochimaru in his mind. It felt so painful, having a Sith prod into his mind. Sasuke couldn't imagine what the Sith wanted, but due to the strain of the battle, he couldn't fight back. He was helpless._

_"Who are you? What do you want?" Sasuke demanded._

_"My name is Orochimaru. As to what I want, that will have to wait until we meet again. Which won't happen until you finish this test with the best score of all."_

_As Orochimaru spoke, he held the Heaven scroll that belonged to Team 7 that he snatched out of Naruto's pouch during their fight and using his lightning lit it on fire, prompting an even challenging test for them to collect two scrolls to escape the Forest of Death._

_\---_

Minato shuttered at the mentioning of Orochimaru's name. Kushina looked up at him, knowing what was going through his mind. This look didn't go unnoticed by Sakura.

"Lord Hokage, who is he?" she asked him.

Minato couldn't say anything at first. The look on his face was mixed with anger and dread. Something happened long ago and Sakura was almost afraid to hear about it. Sakura and her family spent a lot of time with the Hokage and his family and she would often spent more time than her parents with them after her and Naruto got together and Minato was never one to really show any fear. The only time she saw him fear anything was when Kushina made him try a spicy version of their favorite dish, ramen.

"Orochimaru was a Mandalorian." Minato told Sakura. "And my uncle."

Sakura gasped.

"My parents and Orochimaru were on the same team growing up. We were like you kids, my mom and dad were mercenaries and Orochimaru was strong in the Force. One day, he left for Korriban."

"And now he's back!" Kushina said, standing up from healing Sakura. "He's back and he attacked our little boy!"

"I know, Kushina." Minato softly said as he looked down helmet that he had on the table. He lifted it up and glanced over it. He brushed his fingers across a deep scratch that went over the right eye. He then balled his fist tightly that it shook.

"You bastard." he snarled.

" **You went after my son!** "

As he shouted, he threw his helmet through the window and into the forest.


	5. The Calm Before The Storm

Ord Mantell is now the epicenter of droid manufacturing for the Empire. It was under the greedy and sadistic leadership of Grey Mann that the Black Sun and the Trade Federation combine under his banner. Now he was the head of the battle droid manufacturing for the Sith Empire and he has been mas-producing for them since the earliest days. Now he was given an order to fill and was on a tight deadline. Mann was not one to shy away from such an order, but with Darth Karis of the Dark Brotherhood personally coming down to oversee production, he was now sweating through his suit.

Karis is Tirashias' right hand man and possibly even more sadistic. Any man who has face him in battle has not lived more than three seconds against the vicious Sith Lord and anyone who so much as looked at him the wrong way lasted less. It's been rumored that a glare from him was enough to shorten one's lifespan. Born a Mandalorian warrior and embraced the barbarism of the ancient fighters, Karis was possibly the most lethal and vicious living creature in the entire Sith empire, right along side with his master and brother Tirashias.

With his shuttle landing on the platform at Ord Factory, Karis was greeted by the welcome guard of droids. he just simply exited the ship and made his way to the main control center of the factory, where he sensed the fearful Grey Mann trembling. A part of him wanted to smile, but the only time Karis smiled was when he was covered in blood and this wasn't that time, yet. With only a few workers in the factory and Mann himself, Karis could feel very little fear in the factory, much to his disappointment. He loved to play to their fear but with only few in the area, he couldn't have his fun. He wanted to slash some of the droids that marched past him to satisfy his bloodlust, but with no blood it would have been a waste of effort and no satisfying outcome. He would just have to return to Dromund Kaas and slaughter some slave camps to ease his appetite.

Finally reaching the control room, Karis ignored Grey Mann standing at the window of the observation deck looking over the manufacturing site below. The Sith only walked over to the window to see the droids being built at mass speed and watching the large army being built.

"Your order shall be met on time, my Lord." Mann said, breaking the silence between them. Despite having cold sweats and being very fearful underneath, the outside of the old man was calm and collected. "We've built several hundred units ready to invade Concordia."

"They're disposable." Karis told the old man. "We just need enough to hold back Overwatch while we retrieve our prize."

"My droids are built to withstand anything. Overwatch don't stand a chance."

Grey then began to feel his throat slowly begin to tighten.

"We were told that before, old man." Karis said, raising his hand. "The last time your droids went against Mandalorians, they fell to nine complete morons. Overwatch are organized, cunning and are ready for anything."

"Team Fortress was a mistake, my Lord." Mann wheezed as he felt the tightness grow slowly. "We...We learned."

Karis dropped his hand and Mann caught his breath, breathing heavily. The Sith looked over to Mann and warned, "You better have." He then took his leave.

* * *

 

Neji was thrown into the wall and Sasuke swung his lightsaber. Neji dodged it and was able to avoid the sparks of the blade clashing against the stone wall. Though both boys were still recovering from the Chunnin Exams, blades began to collide when Sasuke discovered that Hinata and Neji faced each other in the preliminaries, Neji gravely injuring her. She was still in the hospital from their fight and Sasuke was far beyond angry. He stormed the Hyuuga grounds in search of Neji, all Hyuuga that were in his path jumped out of his way. His anger was far stronger than any of them had ever felt. Now Neji was at the receiving end of his rage and Sasuke was not letting up.

For all of these years, Neji didn't even give Hinata so much as a glance with Sasuke around. Everyone knew that he watched her like a wild animal watching its young. During the preliminaries, however, Sasuke faced his opponent with all of his wrath. He was bitter towords himself for letting a Sith get the better of him and took all of his anger out on his opponent. This resulted in him draining himself of all of his energy and had to be taken away, tired but victorious. Afterwards, his teammates had their fights, Naruto successful and Sakura's match against Ino ending in a double knockout. Then it was Hinata's turn, and with Sasuke gone, Neji showed no mercy. The only positive about the situation was that weapons weren't allowed or else everyone knew that they would have been pieces of her everywhere. As they carried her away, the medics heard her crying, "Sasuke...Sasuke..."

Now Sasuke was finally aware of what happened and he was furious. Though he was a far better swordsman than Neji, his anger and rage has blinded him. He just kept swinging, wanting to cut him down. However, his judgement was clouded and this nearly got him killed. Sasuke gave a thrust and missed Neji, but Neji saw the opening and kicked Sasuke's lightsaber out of his hand. As it flew in the air, Neji swung his blade and cut the hilt in half.

This enraged Sasuke even more. Neji not only hurt Hinata, but he just cut his lightsaber in half. His brother's lightsaber. Itachi's blade, that Sasuke pulled from his dying hand.

As Sasuke gave Neji the most hateful glare, he felt the world move slowly around him as Neji began to swing his blade towards Sasuke. Sasuke felt pressure built up in him. His lungs felt like they were beginning to inflate more than they ever had before. His chest hurt from the pressure but he ignored it. He took a deep breath and gave a loud bellow. The bellow was so powerful and so loud that it blasted Neji at full force. It wasn't a normal roar Sasuke gave, but one that had the power of the Force with it. The roar sent Neji flying back, his lightsaber flew from his hand.

As Neji crashed into the wall, Sasuke grabbed the lightsaber in midair and activated it. He was about to charge Neji when he looked into the mirror metal of the hilt and saw something that terrified him. It was an image that he himself had conjured multiple times in his life, but never once saw it.

His eyes. They were like fire. Around them were dark. What he saw terrified him.

"Control your inner darkness, Sasuke." A woman's voice entered the battle. Both boys looked up to see the matriarch of the Hyuuga clan and Hinata's mother, Akio. She stood in the entry way, looking over the damage to the dojo both the boys have caused. She walked over to Sasuke and placed her hand on his, wrapping around his fingers as they gripped the lightsaber. She deactivated it and brought the hilt back to eye level so he could look at his reflection again. He looked at his image, glaring into his own eyes. Not since his family's massacre, not since his encounter with the Sith in the Forest of Death, had he ever felt such fear. She told him, "The Uchiha used the Dark Side as a weapon, not let it control them. You will become powerful in it, but if you let it control you, you'll lose yourself and it will dominate your destiny. Is that what you wish?"

Sasuke didn't know how to respond. Part of him wanted the power to avenge his family, but the sight he saw was nothing like he had seen before. Is this what the power of the Dark Side does to someone? It turns them into a monster? Is this the look he had when he embraced it? What would Hinata think of this?

He threw the lightsaber away. That was it. He couldn't let Hinata see him like this. Throughout the years, Akio and Hinata were the only Hyuuga to believe he was capable of harnessing the Force in a lighter way. Why he was attuned to the Dark Side, he never let it grow this strong in the Hyuuga compound. He knew Hinata wouldn't have approved.

He covered his eyes and started to scream.

"Sasuke, you're better than this." Akio told him. "Don't let this anger get the better of you. You owe it to your family. You owe it to her."

Sasuke stopped his screams and started to breath heavily. As he caught his breath, he began to remove his hands from his eyes, revealing them to return to normal.

"She needs you." Akio told him. She urged to leave and to go to the hospital. Not looking at anyone, he did just that, still in a state of catatonia. With Sasuke gone, she turned to Neji. He was up to his feet, holding his abdomen. She flashed him a sad smile and walked over to him. She brushed his cheek and said to him, "Neji, the truth's been hidden from you for too long. You deserve to know the truth of what happened to your father."

* * *

 

Naruto and Sakura sat at Ichiraku's ramen stand eating lunch. Normally, they'd be talking and coming up with plans about future missions, but with the Chunnin Exams still going on and will their events in the Forest of Death, they just sat in silence. However, Sakura was more desperate quiet than just normal quiet. Naruto on the other hand was quiet because he kept gulping down bowl after bowl of ramen. Sakura's silence wasn't unnoticed by Naruto. He gulped down his fifth bowl and asked, "Okay Sakura, what's on your mind?"

Sakura shot her head up at him and asked him, "What do you mean?"

"You've been quiet the whole time we've been here."

"So have you."

"That's because I've been-belch-eating. You've been pretty quiet since you talked my my parents."

He had to bring that up, didn't he? She'd much rather forget when she saw Minato enraged. All the years she knew the Namikazes, she never saw Minato angry. Even when Naruto misbehaved, which was a lot, Minato never raised his voice. Kushina did, but not Minato. But what caused him to become angry, that was worrying Sakura. The fact that he knew the Sith that attacked them in the Forest of Death was all but daunting. She could imagine that it was like a ghost from a long time ago coming back to haunt him.

She wanted to ask Naruto, but she felt like it wasn't her place. Asking him behind his parents back was lowbrow and she knew better, but she had to know.

"Naruto, did you know a man named Orochimaru?"

"Uh, should I have?" Naruto asked in a clueless tone.

 "N-No, I was just curious." Sakura replied timidly. Thankfully, Naruto's clueless nature had him shrug it off and went back to eating. She had to sigh in relief when he said he didn't know Orochimaru. She had to know if he knew about the Sith, possibly to see if he knew enough on how to combat him. Although, she should have known better.

"Look Sakura," Naruto gasped after finishing his bowl. "if it's about what happened in the Forest of Death, we need to put it behind us. We got out alive, didn't we?"

Sakura gave him the same look she gave him when he would have a moment of clarity like this.

"We know a Sith was here on Concordia. You've told my parents and I'm sure they've contacted Manda'lor about it. Everything's going to be alright."

Naruto wrapped his fingers around her hand. She looked down at his hand then back up to his face, admiring his smile. She had to give him her own smile when he smiled like that. No matter what day she had, his smile always brightened it up.

"Thanks, Naruto." she said in a much chipper mood. With that, the two paid their tab and left.

"By the way Sakura, what happened to my dad's helmet? I haven't seen it since the preliminaries."

* * *

 

Throughout the years, Naruto and his friends had many different classmates, but none were more misunderstood than Shikamaru. Despite have worst scores than Naruto in the academy, his teacher Asuma saw something in him that the others didn't. During a little game they play together, Asuma tested Shikamaru's strategic abilities and was pleasantly surprised. After a series of secret tests, Asuma concluded that Shikamaru was a genius. The boy didn't know it, but he didn't care either way. Despite that, Shikamaru was know as "The Bum". He was described as "too damn lazy" to everyone. He often didn't like to put effort into anything other than his games he liked to play, calling everything else "troublesome" or "a drag". He was often seen spending time laying in the grass, watching the clouds go by.

As he watched the clouds go by, he didn't even think about the exams. Despite showing little effort and throwing one punch, he won the preliminaries. No one could forget it.

\---

_The girl from Otogakure was relentless in her fight, throwing every punch at him at full force without letting up. He carelessly dodged each blow, not even a look of concern on his face. There was only once instance he actually moved for her and that was when he threw his fist at her. She dodged it quickly, not realizing that all of their maneuvering caused her back to face the wall. So when he moved back to dodge his fist, she slammed her head against the wall and knocked herself out. This, by default, gave him the victory._

_\---_

Shikamaru's moment of relaxation was interrupted by the smell of perfume, blowing through the wind as it swooped past his nose. He looked up to see a girl, about his age, sitting on the bench under a tree adjacent to the walk path. She was looking at him. He just couldn't help but just be annoyed by this. He hated when people just stared at him, like he was some kind of museum piece or freak show.

"Can I help you?" he lazily asked.

Her only response was a smirk.

Wait, he recognized her. She was from Sunagakure and here for the Exams. How could have forgotten that blonde hair tied back into four different bunches, those turquoise eyes, that fair skin for someone from the desert. He thought she was nothing special.

"Are all Konoha shinobi this lazy?" she asked, a hint of snark in her voice. He shouldn't have expected less.

"Maybe, maybe not." he replied. "Just wait next week and see who you face from our village."

"I hope to face the Hokage's son." she told him. "He impressed me."

"What if you go up against Sasuke?"

"He's not the only Force user I've been against and sure as hell won't be the last."

"You sound confident." Shikamaru told her as he rolled onto his stomach and rested his chin on his arms. "Sasuke's not like any Sith or Jedi. He's quite the challenge."

"Speaking from experience?" she asked him, her snark turning to interest.

"Nah, I just know some stuff, you know. But, I wouldn't take him lightly."

"Showing concern for a complete stranger? How sweet."

Shikamaru just shirked off her sarcasm. He replied, "I'm not concerned. I just don't wanna hear any complaints if Sasuke leaves pieces of you all over the place."

"Well then, you have some confidence in his abilities. Just so you know, what I did at the preliminaries was only a portion of what I can do. Imagine what I could do with my weapons."

He had almost forgotten that this girl went up against Ten Ten during the preliminaries. The poor girl didn't stand a chance against this one. This Sand shinobi was vicious and fierce to the point of dropping everyone's jaw. He was almost hoping he didn't have to face her next week, but...

"Listen, I gotta go." she said standing up. "Unlike you, I have some training to do."

With that, she walked away.

"By the way, the name's Temari." she told him as she trotted down the walkway.

"Shikamaru." he replied with his name, watching her walk off. He had to admit to himself, she was way to spunky, but there was something else to her. Something he liked.

* * *

 

Sasuke liked to watch Hinata sleep. Some would consider it odd behavior, but he just relished in it. Even while she was injured, as she rested, she looked at peace. He was jealous of her, looking so peaceful in her sleep. Every time he slept, he'd have nightmares. He would return to that night when the Jedi stormed Uchiha Palace on Mandalore. Sleep brought him no peace, but what brought it to him was to see her sleep. The looks she gave were innocent, the sounds she made sent chills down his spine, and even the slightest movement had as much grace as when she was awake. Even now, enraged by the fact Neji put her in this bed, he let that go for this very moment. Her sleep was her healing and that healed him as well.

Almost every night, Sasuke would sneak into her room and watch her sleep. He would also stand guard, his lightsaber in hand. He remembered the night she was nearly kidnapped and was not going to let it happen again. There was also something else that even he wasn't aware of. Throughout the years, he would sit in a chair to watch over her, starting off leaning against the wall. As time would go on, he would move closer and closer to the bed. Now, he was seated right against the bed. He was leaning over her, looking down at her face. He just looked it over, taking in everything. There was nothing there that he wasn't aware of. He found her beautiful.

She was not only beautiful on the surface, but beautiful on the inside. She was perfectly innocent and so angelic. This is why Sasuke guards her. She was far to perfect for the warrior drawn society around her. He wanted to take her away from all of this and guard her for the rest of their lives. He should swoop her out of this bed now, steal a ship and go sailing. He could take her away to any place in the galaxy that could help them with the Force. Tython, Odessen, Korriban, anywhere but here. He would guard her as he trained to avenge his family. When they were done, they could go anywhere she wanted, live together. This was his only hope for the future.

A future with her.


	6. Nightside of Eden

Minato looked in on Naruto as the boy slept in his bed. Tomorrow was the final Exam and Naruto was one of the participants of the fights. Though he knew of Naruto's abilities, he still couldn't help but worry. Naruto was his son, his little boy. He had to worry about any possibilities since the roster was full of all kinds of skilled, talented and gifted fighters. Three of them were from Sunagakure, and their fighting style was classic Mandalorian style mixed with that of the Sand People of Tattooine. That made for a deadly warrior. Neither Minato nor his father taught Naruto how to combat Tusken Raiders before, now he was deeply regretting it. What if Naruto didn't stand a chance against them? He remembered that Sakura told him that Naruto stood his ground against Orochimaru in the Forest of Death and Orochimaru was a powerful Sith Lord, but Kushina herself told Minato stories of her witnessing powerful Sith falling to Tusken Raiders in the sand of the desert planet. If a Sith could fall to a Tusken Raider, then he was fearful for his son.

Then there were the two Force users, Sasuke and Neji. Naruto and Sasuke were friends but when it came to competition, they would go all out. They would test each other's limit and tried to break it. This was a fight for the top and they were going to go all out on each other. Neji was on Naruto's hit list because of how Neji beat Hinata so badly during the preliminaries. Naruto called him a "lowbrow no good womprat" and was going to "leave him bleeding and broken". The thing was Naruto will be acting on instinct and pure rage, while Neji was going to be relaxed and focused in the fight. Naruto's emotions would have gotten in his way and prevented him from thinking clear.

What struck Minato as odd was that he didn't understand why Naruto was so upset. Him and Hinata hardly interacted. In fact, Sasuke made sure they didn't. Hiashi always told Minato when the two would talk about Sasuke's training was that Sasuke would always follow Hinata around like a bodyguard. Naruto came to the Hyuuga compound to train with Sasuke one day and Hinata came out to greet him. Before Naruto could even get a word in, Sasuke ordered her back into the compound and act like nothing happened. Naruto went home that night and told his parents about the event and said that he never saw Sasuke so defensive for someone. Kushina turned to Minato and asked what that was possibly about. Minato joked that he probably had a crush on her.

All that didn't matter though. Naruto was going to be facing a dangerous threat tomorrow and here he was, sleeping like a baby. Naruto wasn't even worried at all, in fact he was smiling in content in his sleep. It was like tomorrow was going to be a fun day for him. Minato was amazed by his son. He had his father's fighting spirit, but he had his mother's attitude. Kushina was always an optimist even during the darkest moments and Naruto had that with him. He never backs down. Minato couldn't hold back his smile. Naruto was going to do great tomorrow.

* * *

 

Hinata was home and asleep in her bed. Tonight, Sasuke wasn't watching over her in her bedroom but outside the window. He had his hands full at the moment, working on a small thin cylinder. The electronics inside the metal tube were being soldered and the smell and the lights would wake her. When he was done, he pulled a small crystal from his pouch. It was a kyber crystal that he grew on his own. He was beginning to focus his energy into the crystal, allowing his current emotions take control. With tomorrow being the last round of the exams, he was determined to win. He was also still furious at Neji for hurting Hinata, so he was fueled by pure rage. He was also very nervous because he was afraid that he would lose out his chance to face Neji to Naruto. Usually he would have had no problem facing Naruto since the two always competed against each other, but Neji was his only goal tomorrow. What if he was pitted against one of the Sunagakure contestants? He wasn't afraid of them, but his only target was Neji.

Then, there was his emotions for Hinata. There was no point in denying it, he was in love with her. It didn't matter if she felt the same way, he was her protector and was there to do her bidding. When his family was slaughtered, she was there for him in a way no one else would. She didn't treat him like and invalid but as a person and he couldn't stop loving her for that. She treated him like a human while everyone else treated him like a prize. These feelings calmed him. If he couldn't face Neji tomorrow, he would find another time. Who ever he faced tomorrow, he'd ensure that he would prove his worth. This gave him a breath of pride.

He could feel the energy from the crystal and knew it was ready. He held it in his thumb and forefinger as he slipped it into the compartment and slid the cover over the cylinder. He looked down at his new lightsaber and took in the designs he had for it. Like anyone who forged their own lightsaber, they let the Force guide them in the design. It was nothing like Itachi's and it was his own. It was now time to test the blade. He held the hilt up and pushed the activation button. The blade extended out and glowed purple, the color used by Jedi who also had powers of Dark Side. He just smirked.

" _This is your first step._ "

Sasuke spun around and took stance with his new blade. Even over the hum of the lightsaber, he heard the voice.

"Who's there?" he demanded, but there was no one there. He deactivated the blade, looked down at the hilt and said to himself, "I must be going crazy."

* * *

 

The Sith spy lurks among the shadows of the village, trying to seek out his enemies. Dosu is part of the team from Otogakure, a front for the Sith on Concordia. Many thought Otogakure was just an unknown village on the moon, all Mandalorians, but the Sith created the village to infiltrate the stronghold. Dosu was one of the many acolytes of the Sith that have been trained in the ways of Mandalore as a cover. The Oto agents are now within the walls of Konohagakure and though only Dosu was the only one able to move about it freely since his teammates are incapacitated, he vowed to not fail his mission.

However, he wasn't alone.

The next morning, Dosu was found dead in a back ally. His body was slashed and ripped apart. It looked like he was attacked by Sand People, and people thought they heard the scream of a Tusken Raider.


	7. The Smugglers Arrive

It was the day of the final exam and many ships were flowing from across the Mandalorian system to flood Concordia. From large freighters to small shuttles were all fly across space and all landing to the moon to attend this historic event. Only one Republic ship was present and that was the ship for Overwatch, an elite group from the Republic that was commissioned by the Chancellor to aid the Mandalorians if needed, all under the agreement of Manda'lor the Cold herself. However, that wasn't the only ship out of place. A heavily modified YT-2400 Corellian freighter came out of hyperspace and was ready to join the barrage of ships descending to the moon.

"Outrider to Kohona Base 2, please respond." one of the crew of three radioed to Konohagakure. "I repeat Kohona Base, this is Outrider reporting for immediate delivery."

"Copy, Outrider." the responder radioed. "You are clear for landing on docking platform 209. Welcome to Konohagakure."

The crew member, a young man with medium length black hair sticking out from his beanie cap, thanked the responder and disconnected the transmission. He turned from the communication panel and looked out the cockpit window with his crew mates. The were all dressed in standard smuggler's fashion with DL-44 blasters holstered to their legs. Each had their own distinctive appearances with the young man with the beanie wore an orange workshirt over a beige long-sleeve with brown work gloves and buckled boots over his purple trousers. His friend, a rather tall young man who's messy faux hawk matched his thick unibrow, wore a raggedy olive green overcoat over his red and white shirt and his blue pants being covered in the same fashion with his boots. The captain of the ship, a tanned shorter young man with three black cornrows  across his head, wore a yellow workshirt with a purple color, light blue trousers, deep red boots and brown work gloves. Across his chest was a pouch bandolier.

"Whoa, look at all the ships, guys!" The young man with the unibrow exclaimed as he leaned towards the window.

"Indeed, Ed." The young man with the beanie said. "What do you think is going on, Eddy?"

"Beats me. That's not our concern right now." the captain said. "All we gotta do is make this delivery, grab a bite and split."

"Come on, Eddy. We hardly ever have time to enjoy a moment of rest." the beanie young man complained. "Just a day of rest wouldn't hurt."

"Yeah it would, Double D." Eddy responded. "The more time we waste, the more money we lose. There are a lot of jobs out there waiting for us."

"Who knows, maybe we'll find a job in Konohagakure."

"Double D, you know as well as I do that Mandalorians only give jobs to themselves. We're dropping this shipment off, getting something to eat then we're heading for Tattooine."

With that, the ship continued to its destination on Concordia.

 

The ship landed on it's assigned platform and a group of Kohona troopers were waiting to gather the shipment. The three young men exited the ship and Double D greated the harbor master with the manifest.

"All here: security supplies, blaster ammo, medical equipment, just as desired." Double D read off the manifest.

The harbor master thanked the boys and commented, "You fellas made record time. We weren't expecting you for another three days."

"Yeah, well, The Outrider's the fastest ship in the entire galaxy." Eddy bragged as he started to adjust components around the ship's undercarriage. "This baby can out run the fastest ships the entire Imperial navy's got."

Double D looked out to the village to see all of the ships coming in. Even though Eddy said they should just mind their business, his curiosity got the better of him.

"Tell me, what's going on today?" he asked the harbor master.

"Today's the final day for the Chunnin Exams. All of the Mandalorian system is out here to watch the exams."

That was when Eddy got an idea, "So, are there any bets being placed?"

"Some places in the village broadcast the exams and place bets. There's a cantina not too far from here that does that."

Eddy called Ed and Double D over for a huddle and said to them, "Okay boys, we will be taking that break after all."

"Are we gonna invade the planet of gundark mutants and take all of their gold, Eddy?" Ed asked.

"Uh, no Ed." Eddy groaned. "We are gonna find this cantina and place some bets and get some money off some high class Mandalorian suckers, boys."

"You sure that's wise, Eddy?" Double D asked. "You remember that last time we witnessed a Mandalorian losing a bet, don't you? I hear that Anchorhead is still cleaning up the mess and that was three months ago."

"Don't be such a sock head, Sock Head. Besides, we place the bets, we win and split before anyone notices we're gone. Sound like a plan, Ed?"

"Oh boy! Oh boy, I forget what we're doing!"

 

"What's the word, barkeep?" Eddy asked the cantina owner as he was ready to place the bets.

"It's quite the selection, my friend." the toydarian bartender cheered. "We have two Force users, a Hyuuga and an Uchiha, the last one I might add. We have three from Sunagakure, the Sand Village, and one of them is suspected of a murder last night, but the authorities have no proof. Not that it would stop the exams anyways. We have two kids fresh out of the academy ready to face off, one of them is the Hokage's son."

"Who do you have in mind?"

"I hear great things about the Hokage's kid, but up against two Force users, that's quite the match up."

"I thought Mandalorians were trained to combat those who are Force sensitive." Double D interjected.

"They are, but the kid's only thirteen so it's hard to tell really."

"And the ones from Suna are like if Mandalorians and Sand People mashed up, right?" Eddy asked.

"Yep. The one kid I hear is a complete slacker, but he got through the preliminaries without any trouble. If you ask me, the Uchiha kid's got it."

Contemplating their choices, Eddy tossed some credits in his hand up and down trying to think. He looked to Double D for his thoughts and both gave each other a look of agreement. Eddy slapped the credits on the table and said, "Fifty each of the Uchiha brat!"

The bartender took the credits and gave them their dishes of food. The Eds left the bar to go find a table, not that it would be easy. The entire cantina was full of lifeforms from all across the galaxy. It was obvious that the entire place was set up to be a rest spot for offworld pilots and travelers that found their way to the Mandalorian system. Mandalore itself was a strict world in that offworlders weren't even allowed to fuel their ships on their docks, but Concordia was far less strict and even encouraged visitors from other systems. The cantina was even complete with Twi'Lik dancers, that of which the Eds were quite fond of. However, when they found a table, they hooked up a tablet to the table's connection jack and started doing research into their new asset.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Double D read. "Age 13. Born to Force sensitive clan the Uchiha. At the age of seven, he...oh my...he was the sole survivor of the Uchiha slaughter, perpetrated by the Jedi."

"Why did the Jedi slaughter his clan, Double D?" Ed asked.

"It says here that the Jedi were acting out of a threat of an Uchiha invasion and the eradication of the Pike Syndicate, their foreheads branded with the Uchiha insignia."

"And they just believed it on that?" Eddy asked, skeptical of the reasoning behind the Uchiha massacre.

"Apparently. Ever since, he's been raised by the Hyuuga, another Force sensitive clan here on Concordia. Wait, what was the name of that other Force user in the exam?"

"I think uh..." Eddy pondered. "I think his name was Hyuuga."

"Strange. Raised by the Hyuuga and now facing the prospect of facing one of its very own. That won't end well."

"Keep reading, Double D." Ed begged, wanting to hear more.

"Currently teamed with Sakura Haruno and Naruto Namikaze, the son of Hokage Minato Namikaze."

"Man, facing a Hyuuga, his teammate and the Hokage's son! This kid don't have it easy!" Eddy said as he began to eat. "I hate to say it, but I'm starting to regret placing that bet."

Double D took a moment of silence to reflect on what he just heard. In all of his years of putting up with Eddy and his selfish ways, he never thought he'd hear him say that. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Really, Eddy?"

"Yeah. I mean the kid's been through ringer. I know, weird of me to say, but even I have my limits."

"Alright everyone! Time for the exams to begin!" A Twi'Lek announcer sang into the cantina speakers. "All bets have been placed and are ready to go! No backing out now! Let the fun begin!"

"Well, too late now." Eddy groaned. "If we lose, we lose. Lets just hope for the best, right?"

With that, the Eds began to eat their food and waited for the fights to begin.


	8. Hour Zero

The arena was filled to the brim with attendees, filled with people excited to watch the final exam. There was a booth for v.i.p.s, but Minato and Kushina weren't there yet. Instead, they were with Naruto in the prep room. Before Naruto moved on to the waiting area, both Kushina and Minato were wishing Naruto luck.

"Be careful, my baby boy." Kushina cooed as she held Naruto close.

"Mom, you're embarrassing me!" Naruto whined.

"Go kick some butt, Naru-chan." Kushina cooed once again, willingly embarrassing him even more.

When she let him go, Minato chuckled and softly shook his head. He knelt down in front of Naruto and told him, "Naruto, I want you to do your best. Even if you lose, I want you to put up a fight for your opponent, understand?"

"I understand, Dad." Naruto smiled.

"More importantly, come out of this alive. What have I always told you?"

"The ultimate insult to a winning opponent is coming out alive."

Minato proudly smiled at his son as he rubbed his shoulder. He told Naruto, "No matter what, we're proud of you."

"What if I do lose?" Naruto asked, a hint of worry in his words.

"This won't be the only Chunnin Exams, Naruto." Kushina said as she leaned over. "If at first you don't succeed, try again."

"Well, I'll make sure that I don't fail you guys!" Naruto proudly proclaimed.

"Naruto?" Sakura's voice joined in the room. Everyone turned to see her with her parents. She walked up to Naruto, gave him a small kiss on the cheek, causing him to blush madly. She chuckled at his bashfulness and said, "There's something for good luck."

Naruto mumbled something incoherently, causing the adults to chuckled loudly. With that Naruto just stumbled away, leaving every smiling, but also worried.

"He'll be fine." someone entered the room. Everyone faced the door way to see a man and a woman in full Mandalorian armor. Minato recognized the armor design and coloring.

"Mom? Dad?" he muttered.

Sure enough, both removed their helmets to reveal that they were indeed two of the Legendary Leaf Sannin, Jiraiya and Tsunade. Both of them were smiling at their son.

"What are you doing here?" Minato asked.

"We're here to watch our grandson win the Chunnin Exams, why else?" Tsunade said with a smirk.

"But I thought you said you were busy."

"Did I say that?" Jiraiya asked. "No. When you contacted us, I told you we were busy at the moment."

\---

_Minato contacted his parents at their home on Malestare to tell them that Naruto was in the final Exam. However at the same time, a wild Nexu got into their compound and when Minato asked if they were going to attend, Jiraiya said "Sorry kid, but we're busy! Gotta go!" and cut the transmission prematurely. After the Nexu was dealt with, Jiraiya and Tsunade both agreed to show up and watch their grandson._

\---

"Oh." Minato groaned, still miffed that they're weren't clear on their intentions. They didn't even call him back to tell him and Kushina they were coming. Naruto loves his grandparents dearly and would have loved to have seen them before his match.

"Wow, you're the Legendary Sannin?" Sakura gasped in excitement. "Lady Tsunade, I'm a great admirer of your work! It's an honor to meet you!"

Tsunade chuckled in pride and said, "The pink hair is a dead give away. You must be Sakura. Naruto's told me all about you, but just calling you 'cute' doesn't do you any justice."

This caused Sakura to blush. Naruto told one of her idols about her, but he also described her as cute. Not only that, Tsunade gave her a kind complement. This was too much for her.

"Well, let's all go up to the box, shall we?" Kushina asked, not wanting to prolong this.

* * *

Sasuke looked down at his new lightsaber, taking in all the intricacies that he put in it. He was proud of what he created, but that wasn't what was on his mind. He thought back when he first activated it and he heard that voice. At the time he brushed it off, but it was still bothering him. He thought he was going crazy, but he heard it plain as day. Was it someone from the Other Side trying to contact him? If so, why? He knew that Itachi with his dying breath told him he was the Chosen One, but to this very day, he had his doubts. The Chosen One was suppose to be strong in all powers of the Force, but he was only trained by the Hyuuga and any powers of the Dark Side he had were derived from his anger.

Maybe that's it, his training was limited. Then there was his ability to use pyrokinesis, but he only used it once. It could have been a fluke, but you never know. Perhaps he could try again in his fight, depending on who his opponent is. He decided if it was Naruto, he was going to let him win. Sasuke didn't need the approval of the villagers or need the silly exams to grow in strength and power, but Naruto had a lot riding for him. All the time he knew Naruto, Sasuke heard Naruto go on and on about becoming Hokage, just like his father. Sasuke only had one desire and that was to take out the Jedi and get revenge.

However, if he got Neji, he would let his anger flow. He was no Sith, but he was no Jedi either. The Dark Side gave him an edge and he was going to use it to get revenge on Neji. He hurt Hinata and he was going to pay.

_**There is no light without the dark.** _

There was that voice again!

_**Through passion, I gain focus.** _

Sasuke jolted around to see if someone was messing with him. Perhaps that Sith he meet in the Forest of Death was still trying to mess with him.

_**Through knowledge, I gain power. Through serenity, I gain strength.** _

Wait, he knew this code. He forgot where, but he had studied the Force through many means over the years.

_**Through victory, I gain harmony.** _

****It can't be...

"Sasuke?"

The sweet harmonic voice brought him from his thoughts. Her presence alwats soothed him in his moments of turmoil. He turned to face Hinata, standing in the room with him.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"You shouldn't be here." he told her. "You should be with your family."

She ignored him and moved closer into the room. She stood before him and looked up into his eyes, a hint of the flaming aura mixed with his usual charcoal. She never saw his eye glow with hatred, but she wasn't afraid of him. She knew that no matter how angry he got, no matter how much hatred burned within him, he would never hurt her. She stood to him, hoping what she was going to tell him would sooth him.

"Sasuke, if you face Neji, I want you to promise me something." she told him. "Promise me you won't kill him."

He was almost offended by the request. The two of them stood together for many years and he made sure that she would never get hurt, but in his moment of weakness he failed. She was put in the hospital, by her own blood no less. IT was no secret that Neji and Sasuke resented each other, but now was the time to finally figure out who was stronger. Sasuke had the strength of hatred within him, but the one person he swore never to wrong was asking him not to use it.

"Hinata, I can't promise that." he told her.

"Please, Sasuke. You don't know." she begged him, tears forming in her eyes. She leaned forward and placed her head on his chest. Sasuke could feel her emotions, she was scared. She was scared for Neji, but why?

"He came to me this morning." she sobbed into his shirt. "My mother told him everything. She told him that his father died to protect our clan. He offered himself as a sacrifice so we wouldn't be attacked. Neji begged me to forgive him for all that he had done, and I have."

This meant nothing to Sasuke. He wasn't a Hyuuga so the struggles of the clan meant nothing to him, but Hinata was here begging him to be lenient towards the one clansman he wanted to face. How could he deny her though? He could sense she was telling the truth, right to the point he could see the scene where Neji came to her. He could see the tears in Neji's eyes as he begged his cousin to forgive his wrongdoings. Sasuke didn't know what to do. He wanted Neji dead for hurting Hinata, but with Hinata coming to him begging him not to kill Neji, how could he? Hinata was his only reason for embracing anything in the Light Side, his love for her was keeping him from going off the deep end.

Then it hit him: he's done it before. He attack Neji and threatened to kill him if he touched Hinata again, but spared his life because he knew Hinata wouldn't approve. He wanted to kill Neji out of his own desire, not Hinata's.

"I won't kill him." Sasuke said, wrapping his arms around Hinata. "I'll beat him to a bloody pulp, but I won't kill him. If that's what you want."

Hinata held him tightly. She sobbed to him, "I know you've been building up for this, but the more into the Dark Side you go, the more I lose my Sasuke."

My Sasuke?

"Uchiha."

Neji.

Hinata let Sasuke go and they both looked to him. Neji stood in the room, his hands clasped together in the sleeves of his cloak. He entered the room, a hint of caution in his movements. Hinata may have convinced Sasuke not kill Neji, but that wouldn't have stopped the Uchiha from attacking him. When Neji close to the pair, he gave Sasuke a curtsy.

"I have wronged both my cousin and you." Neji said. "I understand if you wish me dead, but if I am to fall at your hands, I only ask that you take care of my cousin."

"Wish you dead?" Sasuke repeated Neji's claim. Hinata looked up at him, worried that he'll turn back on his word. He smirked and said, "No, but I'll leave you wishing you were dead."

Neji could sense the hint of humor in Sasuke's voice. That didn't mean that Sasuke wasn't going to back down from his claim. Sasuke was still pretty upset with the elder Hyuuga, but since Hinata begged Sasuke for mercy, he may just leave Neji bleeding, but alive. That's if they face each other.

* * *

Shikamaru was stretching his arms as he waited for the announcements for the match ups. He was slightly nervous if he faced Sasuke or Neji for he never faced any Force user before, but he could always throw the match if he wished. He didn't care if he disappointed the crowd, they were sick for watching kids in their early teens battle with no hold barred. His mother would be upset with him, but she would get over it. It would be so bad if he faced Naruto since he thought it would be a little bit of friendly competition. If he faced any of the Suna participants, he would face them just to say he did.

What if he faced her though? That girl, Temari. She fascinated him and he was curious about what she could do. Would she put up a fight or would she be a pushover? So many thoughts running through his mind.

"Ready?"

Speak of the devil.

Shikamaru turned to see Temari standing before him with that smirk on her face.

"You keeping tabs on me?" he asked.

"No, I just wanted to check up on you." she chuckled. As if as allies instead of opponents, the two walked down the corridor towards the arena waiting area with the others. There was a strong silence between them, but they would pass glances at each other. They were trying to get a read on each other, seeing if there was something to tip them off about the other's intent. If they were to face each other, would they give it their all or would it just be for show? They fascinated each other, even to the brink of wonder if they would even face each other with their full strength.

Temari, however, had something on her mind that was bothering her.

"Can you keep a secret?" she asked him. She looked up at him as he looked back, a skeptical look plastered to his face. It was a look that said "I'm not sure what you want to say, but I don't care either way". Temari just took it as a safe route that she could take and tell him. She said, "That other participant, the Oto one that was killed last night?"

"Yeah? What about him?"

"My brother Gaara killed him."

"Really?" Shikamaru rang out, curious as to why she would tell him. He asked, "You don't know me. You don't know if I would turn your brother into the authorities."

"Would you believe me if I told you he was a Sith?"

Shikamaru tilted his head and asked, "What?"

"We can pick up on them. Our people have a primative sense of Force users and my brother is strong in it. It's what we inherited from our Tusken ancestors."

"Okay, I don't even wanna know how that comes into play." Shikamaru groaned.

"Our people didn't mate with them, if that's what you're thinking!" Temari growled in annoyance. "Our Mandalorian forefathers tamed them and brought them here from Tattooine and had them train with us so we could fight like them. One of the things we were taught was building up a sixth sense to seek out hidden Force users. My little brother is strong in this and he instantly pick up on that monster's scent and killed him."

"Why are you telling me this?" Shikamaru asked her.

Temari remained quiet for a moment. She had to reflect on that question because he was right. She didn't know him and he could very well turn her brother over to the authorities. But she had her answer.

"I know you won't turn us over." she smirked. "It's not in your nature."

"What do you know about my nature?"

"The first time I saw you, you were laying around watching clouds. You have such an annoyed tone in your voice that says 'Why do I have to be here?'. I can trust you."

"Well, don't sell me short. I could be something other than what you think you can read."

"Mmm, nope. I'm right." Temari smiled widely, smug about her deduction. She knew that Shikamaru wouldn't rat her out, and he knew he wouldn't.

The two reached the waiting area where everyone else was waiting. Shikamaru glanced over someone who was dressed in the standard Suna suit, a mixture of tan Mandalorian trappings mixed with wraps around his arms and waist, like the Sand People. Half of his face was covered by what looked like half of a Tusken Raider mask, covering his mouth. His messy red hair lined over a red tattoo on his forehead. Shikamaru knew it was Temari's brother Gaara, he could practically smell the blood on him.

It was almost time to begin and everyone was waiting for the matches to be announced. In the VIP box, the Namikazes and the Harunos waited with anticipation for Naruto's turn. However, a trooper used his jetpack to fly up to the box, running for Minato after landing.

"Lord Hokage, I have a message from Overwatch!" the trooper called out. "They're under attack!"

"Who's attacking them?" Minato asked.

"It's the Sith!"

At that moment, the sky erupted with the sounds of alarms blaring. Anyone worth their salt would instantly recognized that sound. Some looked up in utter confusion, others looked up in piercing fear. Though there weren't many clouds in the sky, they still covered up the sight of the shadowy figure descending from above. Out of the blue plane came a large Harrow-Class Star Destroyer, larger than most. It was overlooking the arena, shadowing it in darkness. It was then when it became more visible that the people in the arena began to panic. Though the announcer told everyone to remain calm, everyone began to run for the exit to get to shelter.

"Gather up everyone we can find!" Minato order as he lead the VIPs away and slipped his helmet on. "All of duty are to be called in and activate the shield! Get the canons ready and get the crews to their fighters!"

After Minato flew of with his jetpack, everyone watched the village defense shield go up. After it shrouded the entire village, the Imperial mega-vessel opened fire upon the shield. The screams of terrified villagers rang out, thankfully no one was hurt since the canons couldn't penetrate the shield. The shield was designed to protect from bombardment and allow fire from the village to escape, along with the fighters. Konoha fighters swarmed from the navy base and began their attack on the ship. It was then that the Harrow had opened its bay doors and a larger swarm of fighters came pouring out of the vessel.

In the village below, the Eds exited the cantina and looked up at the budding battle above.

"Get to the ship, boys." Eddy ordered as the three ran through the panicking crowd.


	9. Infiltration

Looking out at the planetscape from the Harrow, all nine of the Dark Brothers watched the fighters battle around them. All were smiling widely at their newly created skirmish, two Dreadnought Star Destroyers engaging Overwatch's Venator-class cruiser in the distance. The ships couldn't breach the cruiser's deflector shield, not that it mattered. They were distracting Overwatch so the Sith could move forward with their plans and wait for a break in the battle for them to descend to the Mandalorian moon below.

"My Lords." the fleet admiral greeted them. "I have just received word from Reaper. Talon and Deathwatch have made camp in the forests outside the village."

"Have we heard word from our spies inside the village?" Darth Saud asked.

"They are on their way to the shield generator. The villagers are mad with panic.

"Good, they can use it as cover." Darth Sati chuckled under his mask. "Prepare our shuttle. Alert the ground command to prepare for our arrival."

The admiral bowed and left to give the order. With that, all nine Sith turned and left for the docking bay.

* * *

 

 

"How many ships?" Minato asked his staff as they looked over the hologram showing the battle over the village.

"Three Star Destroyers, two Dreadnoughts and one Executor." Iruka read the schismatics. "There are countless Imperial fighters and they are growing even more in numbers. The Dreadnoughts are engaging Overwatch's ship as we speak. They're holding them at bay."

"What about the Manda'lor?" Minato asked.

"Our communications are jammed. Unless Overwatch can get through to them, we're on our own."

Minato hide his fury to keep moral, but he was enraged deeply that the Sith had the audacity to attack them now of all times. He knew they would strike after he heard that Orochimaru had infiltrated the Forest of Death a month ago, but during the Chunnin Exams? Minato looked about at his command, his wife and parents at his side, the Harunos giving commands to their troops. It finally hit him that someone was missing. He turned to Kushina and asked, "Where's Naruto?"

* * *

 

 

"Come on, go!" Naruto shouted as he helped get people out of the arena through the back exit. Though the officials and higher ups have long gone, there were still a great many people left in the stand and with the pandemonium it was very difficult to get everyone out. The Suna students with Team 7, Neji, Hinata and Shikamaru stayed behind to help everyone out. They opened up all of the exits to get everyone out, but they had to hurry because the lockdown began and everyone had five minutes to get out before it was closed up tight. They had one minute to go and there was still a lot of people inside. Sakura tried to raise communications to Hokage Tower but their links have been jammed, by the Sith no doubt.

As everyone poured out the exit, Sasuke instructed everyone to move. His lightsaber was active so everyone knew to move towards him. As people ran past him, he felt a cold rush flood over him. He knew what it was. Ignoring the panicking people, he looked to the sky above him. Among all the fighters in the air was a large heavily armored shuttle flying over the shield. He could feel the dark entities on board, the Dark Brotherhood of Nine themselves. He could sense them seeking him out. He could almost feel their smiles as they knew they were nearing him. He could almost see them. They were coming for him and they were powerful, more powerful than anything he had ever faced before. Sasuke had only one emotion flowing through him now, and it was fear.

_**Sasuke, control your fear!** _

Sasuke gasped as the voice shouted in his head.

_**Your fear will be your downfall! You'll be blinded and they will claim you as their prize and your friends will die! Is that what you want?** _

"Who are you?" Sasuke shouted. "Are you some kind of Sith trick?"

_**I want to help you but I can't if you won't listen! Calm yourself! Find your center!** _

At this point, Sasuke had no choice but to listen. Trick or not, Sasuke had to calm himself to be able to prepare for anything. At this moment, there was only one who could give him calm and that was Hinata. She had gone with Neji to help get people out the main entrance. He had her in full view and she was getting the last of her group out. She was safe and he started to calm down.

"Warning: lockdown procedures initiated. All exits and openings will be sealed."

The sound of the recording rang out and all the doors slammed shut. In his moment, Sasuke didn't realize that his group had all exited without him. He saw that Hinata and Neji didn't make it out either and he doubt anyone else did. The doors then were covered in a protective shield that he tried to slash with his lightsaber, but the rays were too strong. He grunted in frustration, but he looked up to see the dome to cover the opening above the arena. As it locked into place, he knew they were trapped inside the arena.

"Sasuke, where are you?" Naruto radioed through the comlink Sasuke had on his belt.

Sasuke unclipped his comlink and radioed to Naruto, "I'm at the north entrance."

"Didn't make it out either, huh?" Naruto radioed. "Sakura and I tried to override the lockdown but it's no use. We radioed the other, they didn't get out either."

"Lets meet in the arena." Sasuke replied. "We'll find a way out."

* * *

 

 

The Brothers' shuttle landed at the newly formed outpost a mile away from the village, under the cover of the forests surrounding the area. All nine marched out of their shuttle and walked up to the command tent where many of the commanders were planning out the next phase. In charge of the post was Orochimaru, ordering his troops to make contact with their spies on the inside.

"I thought you were suppose to be with them." Darth Skautas smirked as he walked up to Orochimaru with his brothers.

Orochimaru turned to face them, a slight twinge of fear in his demeanor, and replied, "It was a slight mistake on my part. I was scouting the area when the invasion began. I wasn't expecting to begin so soon."

"Element of surprise is a Sith's greatest weapon, Orochimaru." the brutish cyclops Darth Diyinita told him. "You should remember your training."

"You are correct, my master." Orochimaru bowed. He turned to the control panel and began to lay out the attack, "The village is covered in a protective shield. We have out operatives inside, but we can't make contact with them. We tried jamming the signal from the village so they couldn't make contact with Mandalore so we believe that may have something to do with it."

"Have we developed a back up plan incase they're discovered?" Darth Gurjasi asked.

"It's being enacted as we speak." Orochimaru told him. "I've sent Talon and Deathwatch to dig under the village and infiltrate it. We've yet to hear back from them."

"Until then, we wait." Darth Tiriashias said. "Let's take a little something from the Jedi and have patience."

* * *

 

 

The generator building for the shield was adjacent to the space port so in all the ruckus, one would think that the Sith spies inside the village would have no problem getting inside. However, all of them lay dead on the ground, blaster holes littered about their bodies. Standing above them were the Eds, Eddy twirling his blaster around on his finger before holstering it. He looked up to the sky, looking past the fighter battle above them.

"We ain't getting anywhere with that Star Destroyer looking down on us." he told the other two.

"What's the plan, Eddy?" Ed asked.

After a moment's thought, Eddy told him, "Like I said, we're getting to the ship."

Like he said, all of them ran for the port and into their hanger. When they entered, Eddy ordered the other two on the guns of the ship. When all were strapped into their seats, the ship took off out of the hanger and to the skies above.

* * *

 

 

Neji, Hinata and Sasuke tried to focus on the main gate to pry it open, reaching out with the Force, but it was sealed too tight. Even with all three of them, it was to difficult. Mandalorians always anticipate an invasion by either Sith or Jedi so they try to Force-proof as much of their lockdowns as they can. This ultimately lead to their downfall in this case since eight students were trapped in the arena. Still the three of them continued to try to pry the gate open, but it only groaned as the metal held its place. After nearly straining themselves, all three of them gasped and collapsed from exhaustion. Naruto and Sakura tried to support them and told them to relax.

Sasuke looked at the gate, frustrated that if he really was supposed to be the Chosen One like everyone keeps telling him, then why can't he open the gate. Perhaps this was the time his anger would come in handy and decided to try again.

Then there was the loud banging coming from below their feet. Stomping and shaking, as if a large force was crawling under the earth beneath them. After the three Force sensitives regained their strength, they drew their lightsabers. With them, Naruto drew his dual Westar pistols, Sakura drew her EE-3, Shikamaru pulled out his Bryar and the Sand shinobi drew their gaffie sticks. All of them stood in stance for anything that could be coming their way. The sound stopped, but was followed by louder banging and the ground in front of them shifting. Something was trying to penetrate from beneath the ground. All of them stepped back and continued to wait as the ground continued to shift. Finally, something came through, a large golden fist shot up from the floor. The whole arm reached out pulled the barer out, revealing a large muscular dark skinned man dressed in primitive garb. Not even acknowledging the eight students standing there, he climbed out and pulled a young woman in all purple with a shade in her hair, that was half shaved off.

"Well that didn't take long at all." she commented, brushing the dirt off of her coat.

"Well, I told you I'd make it faster." the man commented.

As the two commented, still not paying attention to the young shinobi that ran for cover, more people began to climb out of the hole. One was a young man dressed in all black, his right arm mechanized and gripping a short blade attached to his belt, and a longer sword strapped to his back. His face was covered in a white and red demonic mask so his face wasn't shown, but his dexterity and movements match that of someone in their late twenties. Following him was another young man in all black with a wide brimmed hat. Brown hair stuck out from his hat with a matching beard laying across his jawline. Holstered to his leg was a strange looking pistol. Right behind them was a young woman with fair skin and blue hair. Her golden eyes glared in contrast to her dark eyeliner scanned the arena. Her outfit was black and silver with her short sleeve top revealing her midriff. In her black gloved hands was a rifle with the matching colors of her uniform. Following behind her was a tall cloaked man in all black. The only color outside his dark trappings were the red grenades he had strapped on him, the silver claws he had on the tips of his fingers, his bleached biceps ripping through his sleeves and the white skull mask he wore.

Hiding behind the walls of the stands, Naruto and Shikamaru peaked over to look out to see who else was coming out from the newly formed tunnel. Both thought about the possibility that this tunnel could bring the Imperial Forces into the village. They had to do something.

Who else came out from the tunnel shocked them more. Climbing out were Mandalorians, but not just any kind. The grey armor and the blue and white camouflage suits were unmistakable. Deathwatch. The leader was easily recognized since step ahead of the other eight. He slipped his helmet off and looked around, his eyes covered in black goggles and his head covered in a charcoal bandana with his thick black sideburns stretching down his cheeks. He turned to the cloaked figure and said, "Alright, there's no sign of the brat here so they probably got out. We need to break out and find him."

"You best hope he's in one piece when you deliver him." said the cloaked figure. "The Brothers want him or the girl alive and unharmed."

"Yeah, yeah. We got it." Slipping his helmet back on, the Deathwatch leader turned to the man with the golden glove and told him, "Alright Doomfist, do your thing."

Looking down from rafters of the dome cover of the arena, Sasuke watched the man named Doomfist walk over to the main gate, priming his metal glove.

_**If they get out, the village is doomed.** _

Sasuke knew the voice was correct. He quit trying to figure out if this was a trick or if it was something else.

_**You have a power to keep him from breaking down the gate. Use it.** _

Acting on instinct, Sasuke stood up and stepped off the raft. As he plummeted towards the ground, he took in the deepest breath he could. As he did, he focused some energy into his lungs. At the same time, Doomfist reached his clenched fist back and was ready to strike. However, Sasuke landed right in front of him. Doomfist stopped himself to not give Sasuke the blow.

"That's him!" the Deathwatch leader shouted.

Before anyone could do anything, Sasuke released his loudest roar he could give. With the Force powering his roar, it rang out loud and powerful, powerful enough to send shock waves, throwing Doomfist and most of the assassins behind him flying back. They were sent flying into the far wall of the arena. Those who weren't in the way of the shock waves were left deafened by the load roar that Sasuke gave.

Hinata, recovering from the roar, looked from behind the pillar she was hiding from, in complete and utter disbelief of what had just transpired. Never before has she ever seen such power. Sasuke's strength has grown in amazing stride that he was now able to do techniques that no one in the Hyuuga clan had done before. She had to realize that this power must have come from his strength in the Dark Side and he used it to stop Doomfist. She should be afraid, but he just demonstrated that a power that was derived from the Dark Side was used to stop this group from escaping into the village. This proved herself wrong.

All this time, she knew Sasuke had small practices in the Dark Side and she feared that it would control him, but he was the one in control. She smiled at him.

As the group that was thrown back recovered, Sasuke drew his lightsaber. He reached his hand up, edged Talon and Deathwatch to charge him, and said, "Come, face your fate."

"Get him, but don't kill him!" the cloaked man charged, pulling out two large blasters and began to fire.

Activating her lightsaber, Hinata leaped out from behind the pillar she was hiding from. The blue haired woman looked up at her and activated the visor above her brow and aimed for Hinata with her rifle. The weapon was primed and a single shot was fired with Hinata blocking it with her lightsaber. Hinata then leaped up to avoid the rapid fire the woman fixed the rifle to. Deactivating her visor, the woman activated a whipcord from one of her gauntlets and swung away as Hinata came down with a swing of her lightsaber. Hinata caught eye of one of the Deathwatch grunts pulling out his blaster and began to fire at her. She blocked each shot and threw her hand out, the Scout flying back into more of his teammates.

Naruto jumped out from his hiding spot as Shikamaru moved away. He fired upon the assassins, the swordsman drew one of his blades and deflected the blasts. Naruto clicked his heals together, activating the thrusters on his boots to have him fly off into the stands. The gunslinger walked next to the swordsman and watched Naruto fly off. Catching him him in his sights, the gunslinger drew his blaster and called out, "It's high noon."

He had his aim up and was ready to fire, but Gaara jumped in front of him and hit in in the abdomen with his gaffie stick, causing the gunman to lose his mark and narrowly miss Naruto. Gaara spun his stick and hit the man in the face, throwing him back. The swordsman drew his blade and began to engage Gaara. Gaara gave a roar with his offense, the speaker of the mask giving him the Tusken roar.

Gaara's brother Kankurō was able to draw the Engineer, Demoman and Pyro of Deathwatch to follow him away from their group. They tried to stop him from running with their weapons, but he was too fast and to agile for them to keep up. He finally lured them into his trap. With them out in the open, he jumped in the air, spun around and threw his hands out. At the points of his fingers were small cord launchers. The cords wrapped around the three Deathwatch grunts and he gave them a pull, tying them all together.

Temari and Shikamaru were off fighting the woman in purple. Her blaster was rapid fire so dodging was near impossible. Shikamaru was nearly his twice in the line of fire. However, both shinobi caught her constantly reloading her pistol multiple times. The rounds were metal, not plasma, so reload was the only option and Temari and Shikamaru's only chance. After emptying her clip, Temari had the ultimate chance. She reached up with her gauntlet and a barrage of shrapnel fired out at the woman. Much to the shinobis' surprise, she could dodge them, despite everything else, including the walls, were ripped to shreds. What's even more surprising was that the woman reached up and beams shot out from her fingertips. The beams hit Temari's gauntlet and it began to malfunction. The woman was a hacker, and Shikamaru knew all to well that this woman was really infamous cyberterrorist and saboteur Sombra. He knew that this was the Imperial assassin squad Talon. He should have guessed since they discovered that Doomfist was one of the infiltrators. There was Sombra and Doomfist, so that meant the other woman was Widowmaker and the cloaked man was their leader Reaper. He knew this fight wasn't going to be easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking that Sasuke's Force Roar would be like a T-Rex roar.
> 
> Also, I know I haven't gone into detail on the appearance of the Dark Brotherhood so here's a link to my Tumblr to show their looks http://bxvace.tumblr.com/post/160646725852/the-dark-brotherhood-of-nine-the-true-lords-of


	10. Author's Note

Due to my interests going into other directions, I regrettably have decided to end the story here on a cliff hanger, however that is not the end as a whole. You see, outside this, I've been working expanded stories that'll take place after these event and I am currently working on a comic on my DeviantArt to expand on the story. My DA is the same name as my account here if you wish to check it out. Thank you for all those who came this far and I hope you enjoyed it. If you wish, check out my other stories and have a wonderful day.


End file.
